Don't let go
by Dextolan
Summary: Sequel to Caged: A month after the kidnapping of the BAU, Callen comes back out of hiding to finish what he started. With Spencer out of the way, he turns to the team and won't stop until all of their faces end up on the wall of dead agents. But he hasn't taken into account that the team is family, and you can't mess with a family.
1. Moving on up

_**(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself, I think it's better I didn't from the sort of things I write about ;)**_

 _ **Authors note**_

 _ **Just a quick note before I start. Thank you everyone who reviewed, like I said before, they mean so much, I love sitting and reading through them after writing a chapter. Also, this is the first of several chapters, there will be less chapters than 'Caged' , however I aim to make the chapters longer. Furthermore, I'd like to apologise for the delay, I've had some mock exams lately that I've needed to revise for. I still have three next week, so I may not be able to update this daily, just bear with me.**_

 _ **Lastly, I have two other fan fictions in the making; here's a little summary of what they entail, follow/favourite me if you want to stay updated on them, I'll upload them soon after this story.**_

 _ **'Resident Genius's'- I've always wondered what a Garcia/Reid slash would be like, so expect a fic filled with their life together...until things start to happen. I haven't written much, so there's not much to say.**_

 _ **'Alone in the dark'- this will be a Emily/Reid fic, but expect tragedy and some dark stuff.**_

 ** _Finally, I'd just like to point out that I hadn't actually planned when this was set. I'd probably say that it's season 9, however in my version Reid has hair similar to season 12 and he hasn't been shot and Alex hasn't left. Just in case anyone was confused ._**

 _ **Sorry about that self advertising. So without much further ado here's the sequel to 'Caged'!**_

Although Reid protested against it on countless occasions he was forced to stay in hospital for at least a week.

At the end of the 7 days he got himself changed and sat on the edge of the bed waiting to leave.

A plump little nurse plodded in to check on him, and put her hands on her hips shaking her head at him when she saw him up and ready to go.

"You don't have to go so soon. It'd be bett-" she started, giving him a look of ' _hmm_ '.

"Really, I'm fine. I just want to get home." He interrupted.

Morgan and Rossi marched in. Rossi grinned when he saw Reid with his fingers drumming on the bed, and an impatient look across his face.

"Alright, I'll get your discharge papers." The nurse swished by the agents and out of the room.

Reid sighed. "You don't have to stay with me, Morgan."

A few days after Reid had woken up, Hotch had insisted someone stayed with him when he got out. Morgan jumped at the opportunity, happy to help out his best friend. Reid was not as enthusiastic.

"Stop fighting it, Reid. I promise I won't mess up your apartment."

Reid rubbed his eye in defeat, wincing when his hand brushed the fading bruises on his face.

The large bandage which had wrapped Reid's head for the first 5 days had been replaced with a large gauze, taped down to his head. His abdomen was wrapped up similarly, thick bandages were still bound around his side, after facing complications a few days earlier.

The scans had come back and luckily no permanent brain damage was found. However, he was suffering from intense headaches due to his skull fracture, which was slowly healing. Along with the damage in his right ear which buzzed softly most days, Reid's head felt like it was falling apart.

He looked considerably better. Most of his injuries were hidden. His wrist though still sore was completely healed, but his shoulder, which Morgan had set in the basement, turned out to be worse than they'd initially expected. From hanging in the garage for hours he'd managed to shift his shoulder back out of place and several ligaments had been torn from holding his weight in the garage. Unfortunately, there wasn't much the doctors could do for Reid's poor shoulder, except reset it and put it in a sling. They told him it would have to heal on its own, and that physical therapy would help.

Reid's arm was held close to his chest in a blue sling, to support his shoulder injury, his face was covered in fading blues and yellows of old bruises. The cut on his nose had almost completely healed and his eye was no longer black,but a pinky/purple shade.

He looked from the agents to the door, his leg tapping eagerly.

He hopped up when the nurse arrived, biting his lip.

"Chill out, kid. We're going now." Teased Morgan, as Reid scribbled his messy signature onto the discharge papers.

Rossi ambled across the room, returning with a small squeaky wheel chair.

"Really?" Grumbled Reid, sending pleading eyes at his fellow agents.

"Hospital rules." Rossi glanced at the nurse who was busy checking Reid papers. "Isn't that right?" He insisted.

"Hmm uh...yea sure" she muttered shuffling the papers together.

Reid rolled his eyes, timidly parking himself in the chair, covering his face with embarrassment.

Rossi would've taken the wheelchair home with them, if a miserable looking doctor hadn't stopped him.

Rossi drove, Morgan shotgun and Reid sat in the back gazing out the window.

Morgan had a small bag of medication for Reid. The bag would've been bigger, but Reid had refused the narcotics they'd suggested.

"How's things at work?" Reid asked hopefully.

The team had returned to work 2 days prior, having been allowed several days to recover. Garcia had voiced her opinion that they have at least 2 weeks off. Ironically, the only person who was having 2 weeks off, if not more, was against Garcias idea; Reid had been ready to go back to work a day after he'd woken up. He probably would have too if not for the complications with his shrapnal wound. He was utterly crestfallen when Hotch had told him the day before that he was to have at least 1 more week off and even then he'd have to stay behind in Garcia's lair, like he had when he was shot in the leg.

"Sorry Kiddo. Strict orders from Hotch; we can't talk about work with you." Rossi replied, grimacing at the kids shock.

"B..but"

"Reid, enjoy your time off. Just watch doctor who or star wars or whatever your inner geek enjoys." Rossi snorted at Morgan's remark.

"When will this nightmare eeend!" Reid moaned, leaning his head back and putting particular emphasis of the 'e', as a teenager would.

Rossi dropped them off at Reid's apartment, Morgans car was already waiting outside.

Morgan bounced from his seat and went to help Reid out.

"I can do it." Reid grumbled, unbuckling any gingerly sliding from the seat, landing unsteadily on his feet. Morgan grabbed his forearm to hold him steady. Reid sent him an annoyed glance and hurried ahead.

"Thank you, Rossi. I'll see you at work soon." Reid said, hoping Rossi wouldn't protest. He did.

"Nuh uh, kid. I don't wanna be seeing you till next week. I will personally drive you home if you try and come in." Rossi warned sternly, his eyes boring down on the young agent.

"Don't worry, Rossi. I'll lock him in if I have to." Morgan laughed, waving a palm at the older agent, who raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Take care of him, Morgan. And I mean it Reid, stay home." Rossi winked at the two agents before speeding off down the road.

Reid hobbled up the stairs to his door, Morgan wanted intensely to help him, but over both his shoulders hung their go bags and Reid wouldn't of appreciated his help either way.

They collapsed on the sagging couch. Reid lent back, his eyes closed and his un-slung arm rested on his forehead.

"You in any pain? Headache?" Morgan asked worriedly.

"There's not much you can do about it." He sighed "just have to wait it out."

Morgan felt extremely useless, he saw the pain drawn over Reid's face, yet he could do nothing. It felt like those several years before, when Reid wore sunglasses and read fewer books per week. The only thing that seemed to cure that was Maeve. Maeve wasn't there anymore, and Morgan couldn't compete with the love of Reid's life, who'd helped him overcome his headaches.

"Maybe... maybe you should just get some rest." Morgan offered. For the first time in days Reid actually agreed.

Reid shuffled away and Morgan flicked on the TV, a crime show began blaring on the screen. He suddenly realised the instructions the nurse had given him about pillow placings. He grabbed a pillow, sauntering off to Reid's bedroom.

Reid was lay on his back, his uninjured arm lay strewn across his face, blocking out the light. His breaths were shallow and his body limp. Quietly, Morgan slipped the pillow beneath Reid's arm and shoulder to support it. He then pulled the duvet up over Reid. He turned off the light, but kept the door open, allowing the light in the hall to drift into Reid's room. Reid had always been afraid of the dark, Morgan remembered.

Morgan woke up the next morning, slumped up against the uncomfortable couch, the muffled shouts of the on-screen medical team reaching his ears. He sat up and stretched his body which was aching from the position he'd fallen asleep in.

Morgan slowly glanced around, jumping when his eyes met Reid's. He was sat at the kitchen counter with a book and a cup of coffee. His fingers turned the pages in seconds as he took in the words on the page, he'd been having to stop his roaming eyes, hold the page with his elbow and take a big swig of the steaming coffee.

"Morning" he chimed, not bothering to look up from his book.

"I see you're making up on lost time." Morgan grinned motioning at the book.

"You could say that." He wet his lips then looked up at his friend. "You know it's 7.30, doesn't Hotch want you in at 8?" Reid asked sarcastically, already knowing the answer.

Morgan jumped up, checking his watch urgently.

"Shit! You could've woken me!" Yelled Morgan, frowning at Reid, who continued to read at lightning speed.

Reid looked up, genuine guilt written over his face. He gritted his teeth and hissed. "Sorry. I... got distracted." His eyebrows and mouth raising in an "oh well" sort of look.

"I'll blame it on you. If anyone asks you needed help g..."

"No way." Reid protested, but Morgan already had his jacket over his shoulder and his hand on the door handle.

"Morgan. Morgan..." Spencer called as the door fell shut.

"Derek?" It clicked closed, and Reid huffed in annoyance, rubbing his hand across his cheek.

"Morgan, where the hell have you been? I said 8 it's currently..." Hotch started his arms folded, sat around the conference table with the rest of the team; minus Reid and Garcia. Morgan cut in with his practiced excuse.

"Hotch, d'you have any idea how demanding Reid is when he hasn't had coffee?" He chided, a smile creeping over his lips.

"I call bull!" Garcia had glided in during the confrontation, she looked up at Morgan who was raising one questioning eyebrow. A smug smile flitted across JJ and Rossi's faces.

Morgan kissed his teeth. "Huh?" He grunted.

Garcia put the case files on the table then placed her hands on her hips. "Reid is always the earliest in, so there is no way he made you late. Also I doubt very much that he accepted your help this morning. That is, if you were even up to offer your assistance." From Morgan's shameful expression and reddening cheeks, Garcia knew she had profiled the situation to a 't', and ironically she was the only non-profiler in the room.

"Haven't you started briefing?" Morgan blurted, trying to move the subject away from his pitiful excuses.

"No. If you hadn't been 15 minutes late we would have." Hotch's frowned deeper as his eyes bore into Morgan's. "Don't let this happen again. And if it does don't blame Reid. We should start now, the case is relatively local, about 40 minutes out." Hotch opened his file and Morgan sheepishly fell into his seat, Reid's seat stood empty beside him.

Reid was lay on the sofa where he'd been sat most of the day, flicking through books. Most he'd already read, but when he opened them and started he couldn't stop until he turned the final page. When his watch said 8.14pm, he began glancing at the door, waiting for Morgan. He'd felt so isolated that day, he had been extremely close to calling Garcia, but he knew she wouldn't tell him anything about work.

His watch read 8.36 when the door finally opened, except it wasn't only Morgan who entered. Behind him came two men he didn't know and Hotch.

Reid struggled up quickly, pushing the 20 odd books he had surrounding him on the couch, onto the floor.

"Sorry I wasn't expecting...uh...I would've cleaned u..." Hotch's gentle hand in the air signalled Reid to stop babbling.

"No, I'm sorry Reid. I should've warned you, I had a feeling this would happen." Hotch said seriously, standing in front of Reid with his arms folded strictly.

The two men stood around awkwardly. "Please." Reid motioned the men to the armchairs shoved beside the couch. They gave Reid a grateful smile.

Reid turned back to Hotch, his eyebrows arching worriedly. "What would happen Hotch? I..I don't understand." He mumbled nibbling his lower lip.

"This is Agent Monroe." Hotch's eyes wandered to the bulky, dark skinned man, who's eyes seemed to smile with the lips. His fingers were laced together in a serious manner and his elbows sat on his outspread legs. His deep brown hair curled over his head in small corkscrew curls. "..and Agent Courtney..." the other agent was practically the opposite of Agent Monroe. His skin was so fair that his veins stuck out predominantly, he was practically transparent, and Reid thought _he_ was pale. His hair had been brown once, but grey and white hairs had begun to rebel on his hairline, marking his growing age. He was much skinner that the other agent, his cheekbones stood out on his face, the skin stretched out against them.

"These men are from witness protection." Hotch said. Reid suddenly realised why they were there, he looked down at his palms sadly.

"I've been discussing your current situation with them. I'll get to the point. They believe it would be best if you were to go into hiding, until the unsub has been found. Also, considering Callen believes you to be dead, maybe it'd be better to keep it that way." Hotch shot Reid a sympathetic look, before his mask slipped back on.

"You want me to disappear, so he thinks I'm still dead?" Reid questioned.

"Simply put, yes. But I understand that you'd rather not stay in a safe house. So, I've suggested that perhaps you take on a new identity."

Reid gaped at Hotch. What he was telling him was impossible to take in. _Could he really leave everything he worked for behind him? His friends? No, not friends; family!_ His hands started to shake as he processed this.

"B..but, where... When.. how can I..." he rubbed his palm over his head as a headache pillaged inside his skull.

"Reid, calm down. I know this is a lot to take..."

"No, Hotch. How.. how can I just leave this life behind. You of all people know that we may never catch Callen. I don't want to be someone I'm not for the rest of my life." Reid stated,biting his nails fearfully as statistics ran through his head. Probabilities that he'd ever be Dr Spencer Reid again were swirling around his brain. The conclusions scared him.

Morgan sat on the couch next to Reid, his hand over his forehead as he too tried to process the situation.

"This is our best option, Spencer. We have little choice. At least you will be safe. You know we will be doing everything to find Callen." Reid stared up at Hotch when he used his first name.

This was beyond him. He'd have to accept it. This was happening. Whether he liked it or not, it was going to happen.

Reid looked around at the men in the room, his leg tapping intensely on the floor. "What about my mom?" He asked quietly.

"We will have to tell her you died. You're status will be on a need-to-know basis, the team and these men here are the only ones who will know. To anyone else...Spencer Reid is dead." Hotch explained, turning his eyes away from Reid's wet ones.

"No. You can't tell her I've died, please." He begged, feeling his eyes well.

"I don't know what she'll do. I've seen her attempt suicide before, after my father left. You...y...you can't tell her that." Reid wiped his face. He inhaled a deep breathe to steady his cracking voice.

"Explain this to her. She'll understand. She used to be a professor. I...I know she could jeopardise my status, but I can't risk losing her. Please Hotch. I can't lose her!" His eyes pleaded with Hotch desperately.

Hotch turned his expression to Courtney, who shrugged his shoulders. However, Hotch didn't need his approval.

"Reid. I'll explain to her. I promise. And I promise that no one else will get hurt over this. We'll sort it all out, you need to focus on yourself now." Hotch was also struggling to keep his voice steady. Reid's mother was the only biological family he had left, Willaim Reid had given up his right as a father when he left Spencer at 10 year old.

Agent Courtney cleared his throat. "We have sorted out a safe house for you to stay in and your new identity is being processed." He gruffled. He licked his lips, fixing his gaze on the young agent. "I'm afraid you will have to leave tonight."

Reid's breath caught midway through his windpipe. "What!? Don't I have a chance to say goodbye?" He moved his frown to Hotch, then Morgan who looked away guiltily.

"We can't risk your life anymore than we already have." Agent Monroe replied, his smiling eyes now filled with concern.

"It is unlikely that your Unsub knows you are still alive, however I suspect he is back on his A game by now." Courtney added. With that Reid knew he couldn't argue.

He felt angry. It boiled up inside him, it was aimed at Callen, for all he'd done to him over the past month. He felt depressed more than anything else though. He may never see his friends again or even his mother. And he never got the chance to say goodbye.

Reid turned to Morgan, realising he may never see his best friend again. "I'm sorry I didn't wake you up, Derek." He confessed. Morgan, who hadn't said a word, sprung up from the couch and wrapped his arms around Reid.

"Shut up, will ya." He half laughed, half sobbed. Reid kept his eyes closed for fear of tears falling from them.

Morgan broke the embrace and looked at Reid. "It's gonna be fine, kid. We will be back for you in no time. That son of a bitch ain't getting away with this."

Reid nodded. It felt like his world was falling apart. The last time he felt like this was in Callen's basement.

The other agents watched Reid expectantly.

"I.. I guess I'll go and uh...pack." He muttered.


	2. Change is good

_**(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)**_

(Quick note: Reid's haircut in this goes from something similar to what he had at the end of season 12 to what he had in episode 22 in season 5, which is where my favourite quote "what did you join a boyband?" Comes from. If you don't remember this haircut, type in that quote in YouTube, it'll give you an idea)

Reid had been in his safe house for a week before he received his new identity, new job and new apartment in Miami. He'd been told to be moved in and at work within 8 days. This also meant changing how he looked.

It was a day after he'd received his new information that he began making necessary changes. James Cooper had blonde hair and green eyes.He wore thick glasses, jeans and short sleeve shirts. This had all been provided for Reid along with his new passport, driving licence and debit cards. Agent Courtney had gotten him the hair dye, coloured contacts, glasses and the new outfits he'd have to wear as James. He'd also suggested Reid cut his hair.

When they had finally left, he'd spent the night coming to terms with the person he was going to become.

In order to make his character more believable, Spencer and James shared similar feats. They both had an extraordinarily high IQ, could read 20,000 words per minute and they both studied at Caltech. However, James was toned down a little bit from Spencer. He only had one PhD, compared to Reid's three and he only had one BA, whereas Reid had two. James Cooper was transferring from a branch of the CIA, which would offer Reid an excuse to not discuss his work past. The personality was up to Reid. He decided on being a 'seen, but not heard' type of guy. From the description he was to base himself off, with the jeans and short sleeve shirts, Reid guessed that he'd have to be a little more outgoing as James.

The next morning he stood in the bathroom mirror, deciding how he'd cut his hair, which had begun to grow past his ears in messy waves. He placed the pair of sissors onto the first lock of mousy brown hair and sliced. He'd been meaning to get a haircut, but not like this. He knew the dimensions and measurements he needed to consider when cutting, but he wasn't a hairdresser and when he was finished a few of his messy curls stuck out in tufts.

When he got to Miami he'd get his hair cut a bit better, but for now it would have to do. He grabbed the hair dye, unboxing it and reading the instructions. He took one last look at his hair; he sighed and lavered it in the product.

 **One week earlier - Team**

Hotch was pacing around his office as the team filled the bullpen. Morgan had been in early and was sat watching Reid's desk, a suddenly empty void surrounding him, with the realisation that Reid may never sit there again.

Rossi flitted into Hotch's office. "Hey, Aaron the teams here. Do we have a... something's wrong isn't it?" Rossi stopped half way into the room.

"Gather the team in the conference room. There's something you all need to know."

Rossi raised his eyebrows, but didn't question further. He headed out to inform the team. Hotch watched as several of his team memebers passed confused looks at each other. The team made their way to the conference room, equipped with coffees.

JJ glanced into Hotch's office, a panic gripping her when she saw the expression that plagued his face.

After a minute or so, Hotch left his office, silently entering the conference room. He shut the door quietly and quickly behind him.

"What's going on, Hotch?" Alex frowned at his precautions.

Morgan got up and closed the blinds, whilst Hotch pulled the back door open and let Agent Monroe in, before closing it gently.

The rest of the team watched them nervously.

Morgan retook his seat, but Hotch and the new Agent remained standing.

"This is Agent Monroe." Hotch stated.

"Wait... are you replacing Reid? I thought he was only having another week off? He doesn't need a stand in for a week. Wait.. wait..wait.. what's happened? Something's happened to him? He's okay, right? He..." Garcia blurted out, questions tumbling from her mouth as her eyes darted between Hotch and the new agent.

"Garcia. Calm down. Agent Monroe is not joining the BAU. He's from witness protection."

Rossi raised his head in realisation, Alex gasped and chewed her lower lip. Emily, and the others still hadn't quite caught on, and she began to bite deeper into the skin around her non-existent nails.

"This has something to do with Reid, doesn't it?" JJ whispered.

"Where is he!" Garcia yelled suddenly, tears filling her eyes.

"Baby girl! Stop, you're not helping. He's fine." Morgan started.

"So this is about him?" Emily murmured.

"It's to keep him safe. Nothing bad has happened to him. I...it's...uh Hotch should explain." Morgan slumped back in his chair, his eyes lowered, unable to look at his friends.

"Hotch..." JJ said expectantly.

Hotch cleared his throat and looked at his team properly. "What is said in this room, must remain confidential. Am I understood." The team all nodded in consent. "Spencer is going into witness protection. Agent Monroe, his partner Agent Courtney and I decided that a new identity would be in order, so that he can continue to live his life. However, to anyone outside this room- excluding a select few- Reid will be 'dead'. Callen is still out there, and he believes Reid to be dead, we must maintain his belief of this so that Reid is safe."

Silence fogged the room, as the team tried to swallow Hotch's intel.

Garcia's abrormaly high voice cut into the quiet. "When's this happening? We need to see him first...need to say goodbye...where is he? Is he here?" Garcia's high pitch cracked and tears slipped over her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Garcia, but for Reid's own safety, he was taken to a safe house last night." Hotch admitted, pressing his lips firmly together in guilt.

Garcia's marcara began melting down her face, unable to speak. JJ took on Garcia's cause, anger boiling inside her.

"And you knew? Both of you!" She snarled sending daggers at Hotch and Morgan. "You didn't think to tell us?! We could've said goodbye!"

"JJ we had no choice..." Hotch weakly argued.

"No! You knew this was happening Hotch. We might not ever see him again, and you didn't let us say goodbye!" She got up storming off to the door.

"JJ stay here. We can't..." the door slammed shut on Morgan's half spoken words.

Emily stood up to go after her, but Morgan grabbed her arm.

"Emily don't." He stood up beside her looking into her eyes, but she looked away.

Morgan sighed. "You of all people should know why we couldn't say anything, especially not over the phone. And even if we could there was no time."

"I know." Emily whispered quietly. "I..I'm just in shock. That's all." There was a lack of emotion in her voice. She was trying to hide her feelings.

"This isn't permanent. Reid will be back in the bureau as soon as Callen has been caught." Hotch stated confidently. _How could he believe otherwise?_

"H..how do we know h..he..he's safe?" Garcia stuttered through sobs.

"Kid's tough. Right now he's probably safer than all of us." Rossi gave Garcia a smile, but sadness echoed in the pit of his stomach.

"Can't we contact him?" Alex asked. Surprisingly she didn't feel too upset over the situation, in fact she felt more relieved now she knew Spencer was safe.

"Not anytime soon. We can't risk anything. If this drags out, Agent Monroe will update us on Reid's status."

Rossi nodded in understanding, and was about to open his mouth to respond when the door flung open and JJ skulked in. Morgan shut it behind her and cautiously placed a hand on her trembling shoulder. Before Morgan could move, JJ's arms wrapped around him in a quick hug. "Sorry" she purred.

She turned back towards the table, nodding at Hotch's.

"Well, what are we waiting for. Let's catch the sonovabitch!" She boomed, smacking her palm into the table.

Rossi rubbed his palms together, smiling widely. Head bounced in enthusiastic agreement.

 **Two weeks later - back to Reid**

Reid stood looking at himself in the mirror. His eyes were green and the large glasses framing them sat comfortably on his nose. His hair swept by his eyes, he was still getting used to the dirty blonde colour which dominated his head. He'd had a haircut to fix his hack job, but his hair had still managed to become messy; curls of blonde tangled into each other. A purple short sleeve shirt, patterned with tiny mauve triangles hung loosely off his body. It was tucked into a pair so denim jeans, a type of clothing that Spencer Reid was not used to. But he was no longer Spencer Reid.

He scrapped his arm sling several days before, but his shoulder still ached, no matter how much he ignored it. A private doctor had come and removed the stitches in his torso and his head when he was still in the safe house. His head wound was still visible, although, it was now scarring over, hiding the past. The bruises on his face had completely disappeared, his skin still appeared reddened around his healing head injury. Similar to his head, Reid's abdomen and shrapnel wounds were closed up and almost completely healed.

His hearing was still significantly changed, when he watched the small TV in his new Miami apartment, he'd turn the volume up around a dozen bars higher that he'd used to. Occasionally, when the stress of his whole situation fell down upon him, he could hear buzzing ripping through his eardrums, followed by a whirlwind of a headache which left him panting on his knees.

The headaches had eased to around one a day, but they served as a reiminder of the past few weeks that he had had to endure.

As he stood gazing at Agent James Cooper who now replaced Spencer Reid, he wondered if the team had any leads on finding Callen. Or if they'd found him. He kept his hopes high on returning home. He already felt home-sick.

He was about to go into work for the first time in just under a month. Except he wasn't going to the BAU. He wouldn't be gathering with his team; his family, to review a case. James Cooper worked at Miami police department, he wasn't a profiler, instead he was a CSI Detective. Although Reid could've done practically anything, but his heart lay in the enforcing of law and justice.

A black satchel sat on the couch, alongside a box of Reid's favourite books which he'd kept from his apartment in Quantico.

He flicked on a pair of sunglasses, in replacement for his glasses, which he hung from his shirt pocket. He placed his bag over his shoulder, looking at James Cooper one last time before leaving.

 **Callen**

The last few weeks hadn't been easy on Jack Callen. He'd been dodging human interaction and keeping himself hidden away; planning. He'd reached out to many of his contacts. Darrell returned to him and they planned together.

Callen felt a desire deep inside. The desire morphed into a voice after several days. It whispered to him, hissing in his head. It begged him to kill, pleaded, demanded. The voice was growing hungry, Callen knew he'd have to feed it soon. He'd have to spill some blood sooner or later, whether it belonged to his destined targets or not. He hung pictures and articles of the team around his temporary base.

His most reliable contact worked as a janitor at the BAU. He was the one who gathered some information on the team for him before Callen kidnapped them.

Darrell had got back into contact with the janitor, who'd seemed eager for another payout. Callen wanted to see the damage he'd inflicted on the BAU. The janitor had taken in a hidden camera on one of his night shifts, and he'd hovered in front of the wall of framed photos which stood in the department to signify those who lost their lives on duty. The voice within Callen had screamed in sadistic pleasure when the video showed the newest addition to the wall; Dr Spencer Reid.

Callen wanted to fill that wall with the faces of the other team members.

Callen planned his next kill maliciously. He'd create a distraction. He'd make the BAU come to him. Have them walk straight into his trap.

After around a month of holding back the evolving monster inside him, he finally decided to give it what it wanted; put his plan into motion.

Luckily, Callen had an average kind of face, one you wouldn't remember. He seemed completely unremarkable. A small beard and moustache laced his face, he'd shaved off his hair, similar to Darrell's army cut. He barely recognised himself and when he received his fake identity (passports and all), he felt confident that he wouldn't be caught.

All he'd had to do now was follow his carefully laid out plan. Before he left his dingy hideout, he went over his plan one last time. His fingers traced over the map he'd stuck on the wall alongside pictures of the team. His first stop would be Albany in Georgia, he'd kill 3 civilians then when the BAU followed him he'd kill one of them. Only one, he'd already decided to pace himself. Then he'd go into Florida and terrorise there for some time. Several of his older contacts were down in Miami, so he'd be sure to make a visit there, and get a few souvenirs. His fingers danced over the map to all the places he'd planned on killing, until there were no more members left to kill. He grinned pleasurably. His fingers began encircling the map, he wouldn't stop after the BAU were all dead and gone. No, he would be unstoppable. Like his brother.


	3. Shot through the Heart

_**(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)**_

 _ **So this chapter is a bit longer than the last two, I don't think I can upload tomorrow as I have my final exam, so hopefully this will tide you over until then. Also I like all your suggestions, but I have planned this story out already so I don't think I'll be changing the storyline, but they are really good ideas, I just hope what I've come up with is good enough ;)**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

"...and Henry keeps asking where he is." JJ and Emily sat in the bullpen chatting about their weekend.

"What have you told him?" Emily lent back stretching her arms out behind her.

"I..I couldn't tell him that.. you know...I just said, "Uncle Spence has gone on a long tip"" JJ mimicked Emily's outstrecteched arms. "I wish I hadn't because the questions just kept coming." She sighed sadly. "I can't believe how long it's been already" JJ muttered glancing at Reid's empty desk.

Emily placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, offering her a half smile.

"We'll get him, Jay." She whispered.

"Morning, my lovelies!" Garcia chirped. "I have a case for you all, so get off your butts." She skipped up the steps and into the conference room.

The team gathered in the conference room, sipping their coffees.

They'd barely sat down when Garcia stated jumping through the case.

"This ones down in Georgia. Our Unsub killed 2 victims last night in Albany." Garcia clicked the remote and the remains of a young man filled the screen. "First victim is Duncan Scott, age 26, worked at a local coffee establishment. Second is Martha Dunson, age 49, she worked as a lawyer."

"How d'you know this is one Unsub?" Alex asked reviewing the file.

"Both victims were stabbed to death, within an hour of each other. It looks like the Victims crossed the unsubs path." Garcia stated.

"So they're victims of opportunity. Our unsub didn't care for victimology, he just took out whoever he saw." Rossi scratched his head, thinking.

"How can we be sure this is a serial killer we're dealing with?" Alex intercepted.

"Well 8 days ago a Steven Morten was stabbed to death outside his apartment. Forensics matched all 3 victims with the same knife."

"Where was Morten killed?" Morgan inquired, squinting at the images of the victims.

"Leesburg, which is the town over from Albany." Garcia replied.

"Our Unsub is travelling south. All police departments in that region should be warned." Rossi added.

Hotch shut his file and stood. "Grab your go bags, wheels up in 20." The team all nodded, leaving to assemble on the jet.

 **Miami**

"Cooper, you're with me. I want to swing by the crime scene again. Maybe you can put those statistics to use." A tall, muscular, middle age man, who Reid has come to know as Liuetenant Michael Harper, tapped his ringed finger on Reid's monitor. His brown hair stuck to his face from sweat and his blue shirt was already omitting signs of perspiration.

"Uh, sure, but what about this paper work?" He asked, motioning to the small file on his desk.

"You're, what, 20 files ahead of us all. I don't think you need to worry about that, somehow." Harper chuckled striding towards the door.

Reid quickly gathered his things. Harper paused, his hand on the door.

"You coming, Coop? You only need your phone." Reid fondelled for his cell beneath the paperwork. "Now get over here, kid." Reid dashed over, hoping no-one noticed his subtle eye roll. Something's never changed. He was still a 'kid' here.

"Oh, Sir, when you say 'swing', you do realise that the crime scene is an hour away? In the context you used it in implied tha'..."

"Yea, whatever you say smart ass" laughed Harper.

 **Albany**

When they landed the team headed straight to the police department, where a temporary office had already been set up.

Hotch stretched out his hand to the Sheriff, who shook it eagerly.

"I'm glad you could make it. We don't have too many homicides here so it's got us all a bit shook." Announced the Sheriff who scratched his head nervously.

Morgan waited for Reid to give them a statistic on the number of murders there were in Albany in recent years. But no such comment came, and Morgan looked down, crestfallen at the moth bitten carpet.

Hotch introduced them all, before moving over to see the board the police department had prepared.

"How far away is the crime scene?" Hotch asked turning back towards the sheriff.

"About 4 miles out, I can drive you there. The second victim isn't too far from the first."

"Any witnesses?"

A small blonde haired deputy piped up. "Just one; Janice Knight, she was walking home, said the perp didn't notice her."

"Okay, JJ, Rossi, go with the Sheriff to the crime sights. Alex and Emily talk to Mrs Knight, see if she can identify the Unsub. Morgan and I will start working on a profile with what we've got so far."

Sheriff Doughty, Rossi and JJ pulled up to the crime scene.

The body had been removed, but the blood still remained.

"That's a lot of blood. You think he drained the body on purpose?" JJ peered up at Rossi from her crouching position near the blood splatter.

"He could take pleasure in watching his victims suffer. Could be a sexual sadist." Rossi puzzled, taking in the whole scene. JJ stood back up next to Rossi, scanning the streets.

A light hit Rossi's glasses causing him to squint.

JJ kissed her teeth, her brain whirling around. "Why do this in such a public area?".

"It's possible he wants public or media attention. He's making a scene to attract."

Rossi felt the glint on the frame of his sunglasses once more, looking up to find the source, which he'd assumed was the sun. His eyes caught the barrel of a sniper, glaring down at them from the 12 story building opposite. He didn't hesitate.

"GET DOWN!" Rossi shouted. He grabbed JJ and pulled her down, just as the 'zip' of a bullet leaving a gun dove towards them. They hit the ground together, Rossi manoeuvred himself so he sheltered JJ from anymore incoming fire.

Shots could be heard all around them. He swivelled round, his gun aimed back at the window which now stood empty.

"R..Rossi? Who...?" JJ spluttered from the concrete.

Rossi turned back towards her.

"You hit?" He asked worriedly, scanning her body. His eyes went wide when they found the hole in her shoulder.

"Uh... I guess... it's okay though.." she was panting heavily.

"You're not okay, JJ". Rossi stripped himself of his jacket and pressed it firmly against JJ's gunshot wound, which was steadily forming a bloody puddle around her.

"Get an ambulance! Now! Agent down!" He yelled at the panicked officers who were gaggling around like headless chickens.

"Rossi..." JJ coughed, her face seizing with pain.

"Shhh, save your energy, the medics will be here soon." Rossi soothed, keeping his grip tight on her seeping shoulder. Blood bubbled through his dirty fingers and over the stump where his pinky finger had once been, before Callen had taken it away from him.

"Rossi... y..y'know wha' this is.." she breathed, wincing in agony.

"JJ, don't talk. MEDIC!" Rossi yelled his voice breaking. JJ continued anyway.

"Callen." She hissed, before passing out in a pool of her own blood and David Rossi's desperate pleas berating her ears.

 **Callen**

Two agents. He could take them both out. Be greedy. _Didn't he deserve it? No_ , He thought. He must control himself; pace himself.

He aimed the gun at the pretty blonde. Steadying it over her heart. His fingers caressed the trigger tenderly. He took pleasure in the power he possessed at that moment.

He took a deep breath his finger slowly pulling back the trigger. He was so wrapped up in his pleasure that he barely noticed the Italian agent's eyes slamming down on him.

Callen didn't hesitate either, he punched his finger against the trigger, as the older agent pulled the blonde away from the bullets trajectory.

Callen's bullet buried into Jenifer Jareau's shoulder. He bit back his curse, backing away from the window as gun fire ensued.

He clambered up the stairs to the roof, disappearing once more into the shadows.

 **Police station**

Morgan and Hotch had been adding information to the board, racking their brains for possible personality traits the Unsub may accuire.

"Uh.. agent Hotchner?" A squeaky and abnormally small cop came around the corner, her eyebrows pinched nervously.

"Yes."

"Um.. well, this seems kinda strange, but someone's asking to speak with you, a...uh William Reid?" Her shoulders pulled up into her neck, like a puppet, her face screwed up in confusion.

Morgan frowned at Hotch. "That's Reid's dad." He stated.

Hotch nodded his thanks at the young officer, who's shoulders slacked up and she went back to her desk.

Hotch and Morgan glanced suspiciously at each other and walked out the room, only to be confronted by a weary looking William Reid.

"You know how hard it is to find you. I've travelled from LA to Quantico, only to find you missing!"

"Why would you need to find us sir?" Hotch asked calmly, his arms crossed.

William strode up to Hotch, his face extremely close to the agents. "Why!? I'm told my son- my only son- is dead! That's why! Because No-one had the decency to tell me in person, a phone call was all I received!" He spat.

Morgan felt anger take control of him and he pushed Reid's father back.

"I didn't even know you still cared! You left him when he was 10! You never made any effort to contact him, so excuse us for treating you no differently to how you treated him!" Morgan seethed, his firsts curled as he turned to control his outburst.

William Reid stumbled back from Morgan's push, but rather that pusuing the agents he fell against the wall, sobbing pathetically. He pinched the bridge of his nose hoping to stem his tears.

"I know! God... what have I done?"

Hotch frowned sympathetically at the man.

"I just... I want to know what really happened.

I was working that day, you know. I..I was doing paper work when Spencer needed help. I was lay in bed thinking about my case when he being murdered. I.. I need to know.." his breath caught suddenly and he moaned in pain at the thought of his dead son.

"Mr Reid, I'm sorry for your loss, we all lost someone that day. You cannot blame yourself for not helping him. You couldn't of known." Hotch extended an arm to help the weeping man up.

"I..I wish I had seen him... just one more time." William sighed hiding his face shamefully in his hands.

Morgan kept his back turned on William, he couldn't look at the man who'd abandoned his best friend.

Hotch's phone shrilled from his pocket, as he was sitting William down.

"Hotchner." He said as he flicked it open.

Hotch's brow furrowed deeply and he gaped over at Morgan.

"What's up, Hotch." Morgan asked.

"Uh.. where are they taki'... okay, we will leave now. And Rossi? Dave...Dave you need to calm down. We will be there as soon as we can."

"Hotch?" Morgan pushed with urgency and a hint of panic in his voice.

"Get Emily and Alex. We need to get to the hospital."

"Oh god,what's happened?" Garcia gasped fully entering the room.

Hotch looked at her, pathos crawling over his features "It's JJ. She's been shot."

 **Waiting room**

"..so he wants _us_ dead now?" Alex ranted, Hotch threw her a warning look, she threw her hands over her head and retook her seat.

"We don't know anything for sure..." Rossi chipped in. Silence fell once more.

The team sat nervously in the waiting room. Alex and Garcia beaan talking again in tight whispers. The others sat stock still, except Emily who's leg jigged rapidly. Morgan was sickeningly reminded of the last time they were sat like this, but this time JJ _and Reid_ were missing from the team. William Reid was asleep opposite Morgan, who watched him angrily. The man had insisted on staying until he found out what happened to Reid; no one had been in the mood to retell the story in that moment.

Garcia's kept nervously glancing at Hotch then back at the door.

It had been 4 hours since they'd arrived when a doctor finally walked in.

"I take it you're all here for Jennifer Jareau?" He gave a friendly smile at them. Hotch stood up, rubbing his palms against each other anxiously.

"Don't worry agents. It was a through and through shot. She was lucky it didn't hit anything vital, although just a few millimetres to the right and it would've hit an artery. She's out of surgery now and in recovery. Is her family here yet?"

The team sighed in relief, all but Hotch, slumped back into the uncomfortable blue seats.

"They should be on their way now, I called them when we first got here." Garcia whispered with increasing fatigue.

The Doctor gave them all a half sly smile.

"Well in that case, you best go see her. I wouldn't want her to wake up alone." He winked at them, Emily beamed at him. "Room 136 down the hall on the left." With that he practically skipped away.

Garcia scrambled out of her chair and to the door. Hotch sat back down fingers pressed to his forehead, relief radiating off him. Morgan placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Coming?" Morgan asked quietly.

"You go ahead. I'll catch up in a minute." Morgan nodded, following his team from the room.

William Reid was staring at Hotch sadly.

"You want to know what happened?" Hotch lamented, landing his focus on the man opposite him. His depressed eyes answered.

 **Room 136**

JJ lay limply in the crisp white hospital bed. Her shoulder bandaged heavily and her face drained of colour. An IV hung nearby, along side a blood bag, both connected to her arm.

Garcia burst in and whimpered at how weak she looked. "Oh JJ!" She cried.

JJ cracked her eyes open slightly and Garcia squealed, wrapping her arms gently around JJ.

"I'm alright, Penelope. Is eveyone else okay?" JJ croaked, opening her eyes a little more.

"Of course they are, silly. You were the one who got shot! Everyone's here for you, I calle'.." Garcia's smile faultered suddenly.

"What? What is it Pene?" JJ bleated.

"I think I've made a terrible mistake. Oh I..." she was interrupted by the door opening quietly behind her.

"You're awake! Thank god you're okay, you had us worried." Emily hugged the Blonde, holding onto her with relief.

Garcia retreated into the corner gnawing her nails. JJ was too tired to question her actions or her previous outburst.

Soon enough the whole team was in the room, minus Hotch and Reid.

JJ looked over at Rossi.

"I owe you big time." She affirmed, offering him a toothy grin. Rossi waved up a modest hand.

"You really think this is Callen?" Alex began, no longer able to hold back the questions that had bedraggled her mind for hours.

"I can't be sure, but that sniper was defiantly aimed to fatally wound JJ. Why else would he lure us there? My gut is telling me it's Callen." Rossi grimaced at the name.

"You've already explained that." Alex muttered impatiently. "Did you see anything JJ?"

"I...uh.. no Rossi pulled me down. All I remember was being on the ground and then I must of passed out." JJ rubbed her head as a headache formed inside it."

"If Rossi's right, and when is he wrong, then we've got the profile already. And he's in the area. We could catch him!" Morgan coaxed excitedly.

"Don't get your hopes up, we can't be sure of anything just yet." Rossi considered, sending Morgan a firm stare.

Emily turned back to JJ. "Well, what I can be sure of is that you will get better before you even consider coming back to work." JJ laughed.

"JJ?"

 **Waiting room**

"I'm sorry, sir. There wasn't anything we could do." Hotch disclosed, sympathy laced in his expression.

William Reid was trying to hold it together, closing his eyes to try and fight off the grief fighting inside him.

"I just need to check on my Agent, but if you stay here I will be back shortly to answer any questions you may have." He nodded curtly at Reid's father.

"Thank you." William sniffed, and fell back into his seat.

Hotch started to leave, a blonde man scuttledpast him. He looked back at William Reid, who was eyeballing the ceiling.

Hotch left with a sigh heading towards JJ's room. The man who'd darted in front of him paused at several rooms. His shirt hung partly out of his jeans and his messy batch of curls stuck out, un-brushed. Hotch tried to push past the man to get to JJ, when a soft hand held him back.

Hotch turned to see the young blonde man fixated on him a excited smile spreading eagerly over his face.

"Excuse m..." Hotch looked at the man and stopped abruptly; he knew that face. The eyes and the hair was no longer brown, he wore glasses, jeans and a short sleeve shirt, but it was still Dr Spencer Reid, no matter how much he changed.

"You cannot be here." Hissed Hotch, although he too felt joy blossoming throughout his body. As if Reid suddenly realised this, his face became neutral and he extended a hand out to his former boss.

"Uh... CSI Detective James Cooper. I've been called to discuss a case with you." Reid's eyes darted to the room ahead to them.

"Follow me." Hotch said, playing along.

Hotch stopped at JJ's room. "Hopefully there's no cameras." He murmured under his breath to 'James', who didn't flinch.

Reid took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

"JJ?" He cooed shyly.

Hotch pulled the door closed and clicked the lock, checking for cameras.

JJ thought she recognised that voice. She turned her face painfully to the young man who'd entered, expecting to see a doctor.

The deep green eyes framed with glasses seemed oddly familiar to her, as did his blond wavy hair.

Garcia sprang up from the corner and attacked Reid with a bear hug, which he reciprocated with less violence.

"You shouldn't be here." Garcia's muffled voice mumbled on Reid's shoulder.

"Sorry" he gasped upon release.

Now they definitely recognised that voice. Alex's eyes became huge with disbelief as she grasped Reid's face in her hands.

"Hey Alex" he smiled. She planted a hard kiss on his cheeks making him blush.

"Oh I've missed you." Blake cried, holding his gaze. Her fingers brushed over the deep scar over his right temple, she smiled sympathetically.

"God, me too. It's so good to see you all."

The others were still flabbergasted, there mouths agahast in shock.

"Reid?" Morgan whispered.

"Well not exactly. I n..." Reid was almost knocked off his feet as Morgan launched over to him, gripping the boy in his arms, never wanting to let go.

Rossi cleared his throat, still gaping at how much their Spencer Reid had changed.

"Ya know when I said I didn't want to see you at work for at least another week? Well, you milked it a bit, didn't you." The team laughed, tears of happiness falling down Garcia's cheeks.

"JJ, are you alright? I was so scared when I left." JJ nodded and held her arms out for a hug, like a child would. Fearful of hurting her Reid gingerly embraced her, smiling madly.

"I'm fine. You shouldn't have come down here. But, I can't say that I don't want you here. I've missed you." She bit back the threatening tears.

"I'm sorry. I would've said goodbye, but I didn't have time it wa'.."

"You don't need to explain, Spencer. We get it." Emily held him close to her, remembering his smell and all the things she loved about him.

"Why _are_ you here?" Hotch grunted.

"I... uh... well I had to see if JJ was alright. A...and Callen is back on the move, so I needed to make sure you were all safe." Reid stammered, fiddling with a loose button on his shirt.

"And how did you find out all this? Who told you?" Hotch continued his arms resting across his chest and his eyebrows raising.

Garcia interjected anxiously. "Uh... I did, Sir? I know it was stupid of me, b..but he needed to know. In my defence, I didn't think he'd come."

Hotch glared at Garcia. "Stupid? This was downright idiotic! This could blow the whole cover. Reid, you should've known better that to come down here in your position."

"I know, Hotch. But you'd do the same wouldn't you?" Silence echoed through the room.

Hotch shook his head. "That doesn't matter. The fact is you might've been seen tonight, Callen has eyes everywhere."

"I hope he does see me, then hopefully he will come after me instead of all of you." Said Reid bravely.

"Reid, don't say that." Emily whined.

"You're not thinking of blowing your cover, are you?" Hotch scolded.

"No, of course not, but you have to understand why I came. It's done now anyway." Hotch sighed angrily, accepting what his Agents had done.

"So where exactly did you leave from?" Asked JJ, who was looking at her fingers curiously.

Reid chuckled. "Sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Detective James Cooper. I would tell you where I work, but that is classified." Then a little quieter he mumbled "and it's got nothing on the BAU, that's for sure." He winked.

"Well, Detective Cooper, I must admit Blonde suits you. Though, I think perhaps you'd be better suited to brown." Emily joked, mocking a thinking pose.

"That's one gnarly scar!" JJ giggled pointing to the scar on Reid's head, which he'd tried to keep hidden behind his hair, proving that she was still high on drugs.

They talked about everything Reid missed, because he couldn't risk enclosing details of his location. After around 20 minutes , Reid looked at his watch.

"Henry and Will should be getting here soon, I estimate around 12 minutes." He bit his lip and stood up from where he'd been leaning on the wall.

"I should go before... you know" a melancholy sigh escaping his lips.

"It's alright, we get it." JJ's small hand held his tightly.

"Be safe, will ya." Morgan said approaching him for another hug.

"You too. Avoid any and all open areas. Oh and do me a favour." Reid paused.

"And what's that, Kiddo?" Rossi asked after planting a kiss on each of Reid's cheeks, knocking his glasses askew.

"Catch that sonovabitch!"

Reid waved goodbye, not wanting to look away from his family. He managed to tear his eyes away and flee the scene, before he could argue with himself.

 **Waiting room**

William Reid had begun to pace the room. Agent Hotchner was taking his time. After around 20 minutes he'd had enough and went to grab himself a coffee.

He inserted his change, which filled his thick wallet. He knew Spencer had like coffee. Diana had complained to William about the habit when he'd gone to see her. She had a meltdown not long after that and William never revisited his ex-wife again.

As the coffee drissled miserably into the disposable polystyrene cup, William wished he could've take his son out for coffee. He wished he'd made the effort to get to know his son; be there for him, help him, love him.

William knew he loved his son, very much, but he realised he had never done enough, he was a pitiful excuse for a father and he knew it.

He lent against the wall holding back tears. The corridors were almost empty. William sipped his coffee shakily, watching the few strangers walking past.

A blonde haired young man walked by him, his eye danced over William as if he didn't exist. The boy wore thick glasses. Spencer used to wear ones like those, William thought.

Hotch slipped into the hallway, his eyes finding William.

"Maybe it'd be best if you went home. None of this is doing you any favours. When we get back to Quantico after our case, I will contact you." The agent extended his hand to the older man, who looked at it hopelessly.

His eyes fidgeted around. A small blonde boy had just entered with a youngish man holding him tightly to his chest.

Hotch made to greet them, but first took Williams hand, and pulling out a card with his number on it.

"If you need to talk, my numbers on there." With that Hotch jogged over to the father and son, guiding them back through the corridors.

William gazed down at the card, memorising the numbers.

He trudged out of the building. But he wasn't going home.


	4. New beginnings

_**(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)**_

 _ **I was planning loads more for this chapter, but I got a bit carried away with Reid's new team. Don't worry I will update it tomorrow, where there will be some more action!**_

 **Miami**

"Y'know I'm not paying you to slack off. I wasn't expecting you to take a personal day." Harper raised annoyed eyebrows at his newest Detective, who was still wearing clothes he'd been in days earlier, his hair messier than usual.

"I...uh... it's complicated." 'James' stuttered gripping his collar.

"Oh really? Care to explain?" Harper got dangerously close to the Detective, who focused nervously on his shoes.

"A friend of mine was in hospital yesterday. I..just.. needed to see them." Reid answered honestly, guilt reddened his cheeks. Harper's face suddenly contorted from annoyance to guilt. He put a kind hand on the kids shoulder, making Reid wobble slightly.

"Oh, Kid, you should've said. Is your friend okay now?" His voice was softer, the buzzing which had filled Reid's ears ebbed away.

"She's.. she's alright now. I wasn't planning on taking the whole day, but she was up state, so I had to fly out." Reid shut his mouth, as not to divulge any more information to his new boss.

"I should've told you, sorry." He scratched the back of his neck in shame.

"You _can_ talk to us you know." Whispered the blonde detective, who'd crept up behind them. Reid jumped as she spoke, dropping his file and mumbling apologies as he bent down to pick them up.

"Shit, Coop! You're super jumpy today!" She bent over to help him, her hand snaking over his back for reassurance. "Don't worry, you don't have to go into anymore detail, I was only joking." The blonde offered him a kindly smile and skipped over to her desk, feeling she'd interrupted enough.

Reid rearranged his files and looked back up at his boss, his fingers fidgeting anxiously.

"She means well. And she's right, if you want to talk about this,or anything for that matter, we _will_ listen." He patted Reid's back, marching back down the steps and into his small office.

Reid sighed in relief, combing his fingers through his hair instinctively.

 _(One month before)_

 _Reid ran his fingers delicately through his new hair, still not used to the style or colour. His hands trembled with nerves. Last time he'd felt like this, was when he started at the BAU, but even then he had Gideon to guide him. Now he had no-one._

 _He walked through the doors of the precinct and forced his legs to stumble to the front desk._

 _"Uh.. Hi, I'm Doc... uh James Cooper. I've been transferred here." He caught himself, remembering he was no longer Dr Spencer Reid; he no longer belonged to the BAU._

 _The woman sat at the desk was practically busting from her tight blouse, the buttons screaming against her breasts. She eyed Reid and puckered her lips, which were thickly coated in purple lipstick._

 _"Mmmm hmm. I'll have to check that. ID." She grumbled, looking back down at her monitor, holding a silver nailed hand up to him, the other hand typing madly on the keyboard._

 _Reid clumsily dug into his pocket, accidentally dropping his wallet on the turquoise tiles and scrambling across the floor to snatch it back up._

 _He stood back up casually, trying to mask his embarrassment with a 'facade' of coolness that he was failing to achieve._

 _The receptionist kept her eyes on her computer, but a smug smile crossed her face; she wasn't a fan of 'newbies' in_ her _office._

 _"Sorry." He mumbled handing his ID into her patient palm._

 _After a minute of glancing between her computer and 'James Cooper's' ID, she gave him a sickly sweet smile._

 _"All checks out, sugar" she sang, making Reid think she had a borderline personality disorder._

 _"Good luck" she laughed reviewing his phisique and deciding he wouldn't last a day. That was until her eyes crossed the almost healed wound indenting into his skull and the unforgiving bruises which surrounded it. Reid saw her eyes flick to it and he pushed his hair over it._

 _"Thank you." He smiled and walked away before she could judge him any further._

 _Mara Dunkel had been watching James cooper's entrance on the CCTV in the 'Computer lab'._

 _"You really shouldn't do that." Conner sighed. Conner Jacobs was average height, average build, black haired, grey eyed and he was considered the king of computers in the department. This meant he could be arrogant and smug and extremely selfish at times. He was not much of a team player, and preferred to work independently. However, that had changed 3 months prior when a second 'computer guy' was employed. Matthew Copus. Jacobs had good morals, yet he was still not used to having a partner. When he'd been informed of a new member to the team, he had been against it. He was completely sure that whoever was being employed would be fired or leave by the end of the week. He believed he was an exceptional member of an elite team, therefore becoming a member was near impossible._

 _"I want to see how Tara reacts to him, you know what she's like." Giggled Mara, who bounced with excitement when Tara held up a chubby hand to the new guy._

 _"Ooo I hope he's nice!" She beamed. Conner rolled his eyes at her childishness._

 _"Let's hope he leaves as soon as he arrives." Conner took a good look at the screen and chuckled._

 _"I mean look at him! Practically a stick. He is not gonna last a day." Mara frowned at his negativity._

 _"It's good you hide away here all day, you'd drive me crazy." She teased._

 _"Sorry, I was sure you held the award for 'most annoying'. Now shoo, I have better things to do than help you spy." Mara gave him a sad puppy dog face and bounded out of the room, ready to give the poor kid on the CCTV a warmer reception than Tara had given him._

 _Mara hopped by her sister, Amelia, who was sat impatiently at her desk, twiddling a pen in her fingers._

 _Mara and Amelia were identical twins. Amelia had dyed her hair a glistening ginger and wore makeup all day everyday, whereas her sister, younger than her by 6 minutes, kept her hair a natural blonde, which she wore in messy buns and ponytails, and she didn't waste her time on makeup. Mara was a very bubbly person, always smiling, always joking, forever happy. Amelia was more sedate, she was quieter and much more synical. Even with their endless differences they shared a bond like no other. They'd remained together their whole life, enrolling in everything together and helping each other succeed. They'd been living together until Amelia moved out to live with her boyfriend. This relationship had lasted another 4 months before plummeting to an end. Within that time Mara had also found herself a boyfriend. Their relationship was still going strong 1 year 7 months later, when she became his fiancé. She wore a small emerald ring on her right hand which she often gazed at and smiled._

 _"And where do you think you're going? Scaring the new guy?" Amelia scorned fixating her raised eyebrow on her sister._

 _Mara paused and sat on the edge of her sister's desk._

 _"Get off you lump!" Amelia yelled._

 _Mara leaned in close to Amelia's ear. "Maybe you should introduce yourself first. He seems cute aaaaaaand you're single." She winked._

 _"Oh just go, I'd rather you annoy him than me." Mara grinned mischievously at her sister and dashed off._

 _She flew by Micheal Harper and Stanley McGarity on her way._

 _Harper was an extremely amicable guy. He was easy to talk to and less stern and serious than a typical boss. He was probably too lax on his team, but no one ever complained._

 _McGarity was closest in age to Harper being around 7 years younger. Both men were still fit and active in the field and often proved more useful than the younger rookies. Stanley was glad to see a new member added to their team, he'd heard the most about James Cooper from Harper, being good friends with his boss. He knew the kid was smart; PhD smart. There was little history on him, Harper had told him this was due to being in a confidential branch of the CIA, and being respectful of a man's privacy, McGarity left it there._

 _Reid slowly trudged up the stairs, butterfly's flying around his stomach, begging him to turn back. As he neared the top step he saw big glass doors into his new workplace. A young woman, around his age, was racing towards the doors. She ripped them open and skipped towards him, making him step back worriedly._

 _"Hi! Hi, I'm Mara Dunkel, just call me Mara though, because my sister works here too and so, you'd get us mixed up if you used our second names an... sorry I'm rambling aren't I? You must be James Cooper." She shoved her hand into the air in front of them, grabbing his eagerly and shaking._

 _"Sorry about Tara." She motioned back downstairs."She likes to play bad cop, I guess that makes me the good cop... not that you're being interrogated.. uh.. come inside and meet everyone." She pulled Reid into the precinct, who was still searching for words of response._

 _The team had gathered around the desks, chatting and glancing towards Mara and James Cooper. Conner followed Matthew from their lab and had to cover his mouth when he snorted at the sight of the thin and scrawny new guy._

 _Mara was still pulling Reid along behind her, stopping at her team and almost pushing Reid into them._

 _"And this is the team. That's..."_

 _"Mara, give the Kid a chance." Laughed Harper, extending a friendly hand at James who took it gratefully. The team noticed the dying bruises littering Reid's face. Those on his cheek were yellow and faded, but his nose was still pink and purple from the break. None of them mentioned it._

 _"I'm Michael Harper, I've read a lot about you, not that there's a lot to read." He winked at Reid, who smiled back._

 _"Pleasure to meet you, Sir." He said, finally finding words._

 _"Please, its Harper." He smiled toothily._

 _Reid was slowly introduced to the whole team, excluding Angela Morris who worked in the lab downstairs._

 _Reid stepped back, his nerves grinding inside him. As he did the team finally had a good look at him._

 _Reid pushed his hair out of his eyes and unintentionally revelealed the gunshot wound which was still healing. Connor's smug grin dropped when he saw the deep gash across Reid's forehead, and how the skin around it was still red and purple with fairly recent bruises._

 _"Is that why you left your last job?" Asked Amelia pointing at the shot wound. Reid's eyes went wide with panic and he flicked his hair back across his head._

 _"Uh... something like that."_

 _"That's pretty crazy." Said Mara, her fingers moving Reid's hair from covering it, so she could have a look._

 _"Is that a shot wound!?" She gasped, her mouth dropping. Reid backed off her intruding hands and smiled._

 _"Um yea." He grimaced looking down._

 _"How'd you manage that?" The team caught the cruel tone Jacobs often used with them, but Reid simply looked at him and sighed._

 _"My last ...case didn't go according to plan."_

 _"What so this is your punishment? You think we're below you or something?" Hissed Conner, desperate to make the new guy squirm._

 _"Oh shut up, Jacobs. You shouldn't even be asking, it's none of your damn business." Stanley growled, shooting a dirty look at Conner._

 _"That's okay. I'm not being punished. What happened wasn't my fault, call it a personal vendetta against me." Reid chimed._

 _"Vendetta? Where d'you get him from, Harper? Medieval times?" Conner sniggered._

 _Before the team could defend their new member, Reid's facts began to spew out of him._

 _"Actually the term 'vendetta' is Italian and it originates from Corsica, and was practiced in many parts of Italy and later in other European countries. It is still used now a days, however it is universally proscribed by law and persists in areas that are remote or lack trusted police protection." Reid eyed Conner anxiously, waiting for an angry outburst, yet the man seemed lost for words._

 _"Christ, Kid! Read much?" Stanley chuckled._

 _"I can read 20,000 words per minute and I have an eidetic memory, which is how I remember what I read. I read mostly technical books." He bit his lip and looked down at his feet, embarrassed by the gawking eyes watching him._

 _"How is that even possible!? 20,000 words a minute, what are you selling us?" Snapped Conner._

 _"Our conscious minds can process 16 bits of information per second, our unconscious minds can process 11 million." Reid stated._

 _Harper held up his hand, chortling. "Well, Conner maybe Cooper can demonstrate for us." Reid's eyebrows arched with fear. "I believe ya kid, I just need to see it."_

 _Mara squealed with enthusiasm and grabbed Reid's hand again, pulling him over to her desk the team following._

 _She hustled Reid into the chair and dropped a case file in front of him. She smiled reassuringly at him._

 _"There's like 8 pages of writing in this, it's on the case we just solved."_

 _Reid looked up bewilderingly at the work force. "Um..what do you want me to do?"_

 _"Read it, Genius." Snarled Conner his eyes narrowing. Amelia smacked his shoulder, which sent his look of despising at her instead._

 _"Okay." Reid opened the file with shaky hands, not being used to so many eyes on him._

 _His eyes found the first page and he looked up at Mara. She raised her eyebrows and nodded her head as a signal to go._

 _Reid's long fingers ran down the first page in seconds and he flipped over to the next, and he'd finished that in a blink. He was on the 7th when Conner groaned, "Oh, get over yourself." Reid held up a finger as he finished the last page and closed the file._

 _"I'm impressed" admitted Stanley._

 _"Oh come on! He couldn't of read all that. If you're so smart, recite page..5." Conner crossed his arms, assuming he'd won._

 _"Kid, don't listen t..." Reid interrupted Stanley's speech as he began to perfectly recite page 5. Mara grabbed the file and her finger followed the words as Reid said them._

 _Harper clapped his hands loudly, his face red with laughter._

 _"Go to your lab and sulk, Jacobs. Your attitude has been most unprofessional." He waved a big hand at the computer guy who was still in shock._

 _Harper turned his back on Conner, blocking him out._

 _"Welcome to the team, Coop." He patted his aimable palm against Reid's back._

 **Present**

"What you got?" Reid asked Mara, who had her feet up on her desk reviewing a file.

"New case, Mini Coop. The teams on their way here, but we will go early." She mumbled sticking a lolly into her mouth. She'd begun to call him 'Mini Coop' after the car 'Mini Cooper' when she'd seen it whilst on a drive with him. She also reminded him that it was because he was young and basically the mini member on the team, which made him feel like even more of a kid.

"'We'?" Reid said frowning.

"Yea, you're with me. Let's get going now, I hope you like music, because I have lots of it." She teased dangling her phone at him, like a cat with string.

 **This chapter was supposed to be more, but I felt my original plan moved the story way too fast, and I don't want to rush it. So, it turns out this 'short story' may turn out longer than I had anticipated.**

 **I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am writing it. Please give me all of your thoughts in the reviews ;)**


	5. Friends like these

_**(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)**_

 _ **3 weeks later - Orlando**_

Callen had hit for a forth time, this occasion was in Orlando, Florida. The BAU had followed him from Albany, to Jacksonville and now to Orlando. They'd decided to work from the police departments and not to visit the crime scenes, which had annoyed Jack Callen immensely; his work was being wasted.

His contacts watched the team and anyone who so much as talked with them, relentlessly.

"Yo, Boss, there's someone else." The short Canadian man Callen employed several months before, confronted him eagerly.

Callen remained on the sofa, his attention was on his fingers, which were caressing the blade of his knife.

"Care to elaborate?" He sighed, boredom laced into his voice.

"There's this guy. I don't know who he is, but I seen him around those pigs. He's always following them."

"How's this going to help me?" Callen's voice had a sharp, poinsonous purr to it.

"Uh...welll.." the Canadian started, but was interrupted by Darrell.

"We could take him out, maybe he's with 'em."

The Canadian suddenly jumped up. "Yea, yea! He's always hiding away, it would be easy boss."

The two men watched Callen; waiting.

He licked his lips slyly, slippinb his knife into his belt.

"I guess it couldn't hurt, to _play_ with him. Where's he staying?"

 **BAU**

Hotch rubbed his forehead angrily. The team sat around him, glancing subtly at him, waiting for instruction. He tightened his fists and forced his eyes up at them.

"This isn't working. We've been away from home for about 3 weeks now. There's nothing much we can do here. I suggest we get back to Quantico, have a few days off to recooperate. If we're right, then Callen will strike again next week..."

Morgan slammed his fist on the table. "Hotch, we can't give up on catching this sonovabitch!" He snapped.

"That's not what I was implying. But, we also have lives back at home. You may not like leaving, Morgan, but it's an order." Hotch stood up then.

"Let's get back to the hotel and pack." The whole team bar Morgan, and JJ who had been recovering at home, and Reid who was 'dead', nodded silently and got up.

Garcia shook Morgan's shoulder lightly. "Come on, Sweetness. We can't leave without you."

"And yet we keep leaving without Reid." Morgan whispered after the team was out of earshot. He hauled himself up, and sighed hopelessly.

 **Miami**

Reid holstered his gun and raised his hands calmly.

"I just want to talk."

Amelia was stood around a foot behind him, her gun drawn and locked on the suspect.

"I understand why you did this. You want recognition; your whole life you've been forced into shadows." Reid edged closer to the suspect, who had a middle aged woman in a headlock and a gun pressed against her skull.

The suspect faltered.

"You know?" He murmured.

"Yes. I also know what it's like to be taken for granted or to suffer predjudice. Trust me. You don't have to do this. Let her go and we can talk this out."

The suspect loosened his grip on the woman, Reid nodded reassuringly.

Just as his arm began to release the terrified woman, the cops burst in.

"STOP! Stay where you are!" Reid called, but it was too late, the suspect had regained his grip and his finger trembled over the trigger on his gun.

"DON'T MOVE." Screamed an officer who came to stand by Reid, frowning at his holstered gun.

"No, no no no no, you're tricking me." The suspect hissed.

Before Reid could negotiate again, the cop next to him fired his gun which was dangerously close to Reid's injured ear.

A shrill buzzing tore through Reid's head. It felt as if a knife was being driven into his skull. He pressed his hands to his ears and staggered back in agony. Images of an explosion and a burning car filled his claustrophobic head.

The bullet chewed into the suspects collar bone. He growled in pain, and spun the gun out towards the team. Amelia had no choice but to launch a bullet between the suspect's eyes.

Cooper was on the floor, his hands pressed over his ears and his face contorted in severe pain. He was moaning quietly, his teeth biting into his bottom lip.

Reid held his head tight, feeling as if it may explode. A dull throb replaced the intense pain, but the high pitched, incessant ringing continued. A face he'd hoped he'd never see again, flashed in front of his eyes. The sound of a gunshot was heard in his memory. He squeezed his eyes shut against the intrusive visions. All sound suddenly became muffled, he couldn't even hear the low groans emitting from his gritted teeth.

"Coop! You alright?" Amelia knelt beside him. He didn't seem to hear her. She shock him gently, and he pulled his knees into himself, panting wildly.

"He wasn't hit." Said the offending officer indignantly.

"How could you be so stupid!? Mara yelled from behind them.

"First you interrupt our negotiations, then you shoot your gun in close proximity of another person. You were completely out of bounds!" She reprimanded.

The officers eyes widened in realisation. Harper pushed through and grabbed the officers sleeve.

"You jeopardised our whole mission. We could've saved them both! Get out! GET OUT OF MY FACE!" He snarled, shoving the officer away from him as if he were something grotesque.

Reid still writhed in pain on the ground, his fingers began to twitch where they were thumbed against his right ear.

"You okay,kid?" Harper asked.

Something warm and sticky trickled into Reid's hand. He mercifully pulled his fingers away from his head, and stared at the crimson licking his palms.

"Jeez..." Reid didn't make out the rest because the buzzing devoured his hearing for several seconds. He suddenly panicked, looking up at his new team trying to make out what their lips were saying.

"Can you hear us, Coop?" Mara said emphasising her lip movements. Cooper didn't reply.

Reid sat disorientated for another minute, until sound broke through again. "...we take him to the hospital?"

Reid jumped to his feet so suddenly he almost fell back over and Harper had to hold him up.

"I...c'n h...hear you." He stuttered loudly, his ears still ringing.

A migraine plundered through his head.

"'m fine" he said breathlessly.

"No you're not, Kid. You've clearly sustained damage to your ear." McGarity frowned, cupping Cooper's ear, to see where the blood had come from.

"I...I was in an e'plosion, c..couple months b..back. I've g...got permanent ear damage a..anyw..way." He winced.

"Seriously, I..i'll be o..okay in a minute, the ringing is j..just a little intense r..right now" he mumbled.

"You, my friend, are one mysterious guy." Amelia laughed tapping his cheek lightly.

Stanley nodded in understanding and went over to the body.

"What, so you hear ringing all the time?" Mara asked sympathetically.

"Uh... something like that I..I guess."

"Mara, you take James back to the office, make sure he's alright till we get back. We can clean up here." Harper ordered. Reid tried to protest, but Mara was already guiding him out slowly.

She helped his into the car, and he leaned his thumping head against the cool glass.

Mara glanced over at him, pity in her eyes.

I won't put my music on right now. I don't want to kill your ears anymore."

"No, please do." He quavered. "I need something to drown out the ringing."

 **1 week later - Miami**

"What we got, Harper?" Stanley asking slurping his coffee loudly.

"Two shootings downtown. One fatal, the other victim survived though."

"That's a lot of paper work for a simple case."

"It's not that simple. Apparently the suspect is a serial killer. He's been working his way down the country. He's been targeting an elite team in the FBI. They're on their way down from Virginia to work on the case." Harper relayed grimly.

Stanley chewed his lip curiously. "What branch are they from?"

"The BAU."

"Oh right, they're pretty elite. I wonder why this guys after them." Stanley sat down at his desk and sucked the end of a pen he'd already chewed.

"It's this line of work, we don't get on too well with criminals."

"Where's Mara and James?" Asked Matthew, who was sat on the edge of Mara's desk, scoffing a donut.

"I sent them on a coffee run. I can't stand that new coffee machine." Grumbled Amelia.

"Oh and Matthew; You'd best make yourself a bit more presentable, the FBI will be here soon." Amelia taunted. Matthew hopped off the desk, brushing off the donut crumbs and swallowing the last mouthful in an exaggerated movement, smiling sweetly at her, with a bulging mouth.

"Bet'er?" He sputtered, spraying crumbs on the floor.

Amelia swerved away from the crumbs. "Yea, now knock it off!" She laughed, playfully punching his skinny arm.

The glass door behind them swung open and several sets of feet came into the office.

Matthew suddenly froze with nerves, and Amelia had to push him out of the way.

"Hi, I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, these are SSA's Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, Jennifer Jeurea, Alex Blake and our tech analysist Penelope Garcia." Hotch held out his hand, a small, but serious smile on his lips.

"Nice to meet you all, you can set up here if you want. I'm Micheal Harper and this is my team. This is detective Stanley McGarity, that's detective Amelia Dukel, her sister Mara is just getting Coffee with Cooper, they are both detectives as well. These are our 'computer guys', if you will, Conner Jacobs and Matthew Copus. We also have Angela Morris on this team, but she works with the bodies." Harper grinned widely at the agents, in spite of himself.

After a minute of greetings and introductions, the two teams sat down together to discuss.

" I didn't know you take your tech analysists out in the field with you." Conner jibbed.

"We don't, but this case is rather a personal one, as I expect you are well aware." Hotch said, without missing a beat, and ignoring the man's sarcastic tone.

"Well, you don't need three computer geeks to work this case." Grumbled Conner, and he slunk back off into his dark lab.

"Ignore him. He has good intentions, he's just not a...uh people person." Matthew gave them a sweet closed mouth smile.

Harper turned his attention back to the BAU.

"I've heard some of the details about the 'personal' part of this case, but not enough to work the case. Would you be up for making that part clearer for us."

Hotch looked over at Morgan, who was looking up at the ceiling.

He sighed and sat back. "It was around 2/3 months ago. Our Unsub -Jack Callen- had been planning an assault on this team for quite sometime, in order to seek revenge for the death of his brother, who had been killed by one of my agents. You must also understand, agent Reid and I had been in a hostage situation with this brother of his, along with around 20 innocent people. My Agent had no choice, it had been my idea to take out the Unsub, and I still support that decision." Hotch paused scanning the faces watching him eagerly.

"Callen drugged us, and held us all captive in a basement for a few days. He played sick games with each team member and Agent Reid. His end game was to kill us , but the bureau traced our phones and managed to find us before he could achieve that goal. Callen did, however, shoot and kill Agent Reid." Hotch let out a huff. Amelia looked down at her nails, her stomach suddenly feeling tight.

"His mission, now, is to draw us out, and finish what he started."

Harper nodded along seriously with Hotch's story.

Stanley shook his head . "I'm sorry about what happened to your Agent. We will help in any way to catch this bastard." He said, narrowing his eyes with determination.

"Thank you. We can use all the help we can get." The Italian agent spoke up.

"Who was Agent Reid?" Asked Matthew, scratching his nose.

"Damn genius, that's _what_ he was." Laughed Derek.

Harper raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Uh... well that's one way of putting it. But he was so much more than that, he was part of our family. His name was Dr Spencer Reid, he joined the BAU when he was 22. He had an IQ of 187, 3 Phd's and 2 ba's, I wouldn't be surprised if he was working on a 4th one. He could als..." Emily was cut off by a loud giggle and the slamming of doors.

Mara and Cooper skipped in. Mara had her back turned to the two teams and was walking backwards talking to Cooper, who was rolling his eyes.

Mara turned and she stopped abruptly. James almost walked straight into her, he shuffled to her left and his eyes flew open in shock.

The BAU tried to hide their surprise. Garcia had to look away, desperate to run over and wrap Reid in her arms.

"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry for interrupting. You're the FBI, aren't you? I'm Mara." She bounced up the steps, plopping herself into a seat next to Amelia, and waving at Cooper to join her.

Reid was wearing a navy blue, short sleeve shirt, the top 2 buttons undone. He had black Levi's and dark blue deck shoes on.

"C'mon Coop, don't be shy." Teased Amelia.

Harper looked at Prentiss with a sympathetic smile.

"I hate to ask, but d'you have any pictures of the body, or of agent Reid?"

"Nope.no, noooo, no." Garcia chimed, her voice pitching a high note.

"We don't have any pictures of the body, it's... uh... complicated. And we'd prefer not to have his picture up." Hotch said with a sense of finality on the subject.

"Completely understandable. Oh, uh, this is Detective James Cooper, he's been with us a few months now. He's basically an encyclopaedia, so if you have any questions, and I mean _any_ , ask him." Harper smiled mischievously at Reid.

"Great, I have a few of those." Said Rossi, wiggling his finger at Reid, signaling him over.

"So where shall we start." Inquired Harper, clasping his hands together.

Rossi walked into a secluded office, pulling the door to.

"So this is where you've been." He asked slyly.

"What are you doing here?" Hissed Reid, anxiety sweating off him.

"Callen's been killing again, first Albany, then Jacksonville and Orlando and now here. You know what he wants."

"His end game." Murmured Reid with fright.

"He cannot see you with us, Kid. He might recognise you." Rossi warned.

Reid bit his lip, looking up into the older Agent's eyes.

"It's great to see you, Kiddo." The Italian grinned happily, pulling Reid into a tight embrace.

"And you. I.. I hope this will be over soon." He admitted.

"You and me both."

Hotch stuck his head through the door, pulling it open.

"We've decided to go to the crime scene." Hotch announced grimly.

"Aaron, are you mad? That is exactly what he wants." Rossi began, but Hotch held up his hand.

"It'll only be, Morgan, Emily and I going, you stay here and work on the details we have."

"We've worked it to death already..." Rossi started, but Hotch interrupted again.

"Which is exactly why we have to go. Don't worry we will have protection." With that Hotch slipped out of the room, Reid quickly followed.

"You should take some of my team too. Stanley, Amelia and I will accompany you." Reid flicked open a file in front of Harper, subtly. "Oh and you can tag along too James, just don't bore these agents with your facts."

"Sure." Reid replied amicably. Rossi shot him a look, but Reid wasn't going to stand by and lose his team.

 **Crime scene**

The team got out of the SUV, armed cops swarmed the area, along with a swelling crowd of people. Reid watched as his team made their way to the scene of the crime.

"I'll stay here, and have a look around." Reid offered, putting his hands in his pockets and eying the crowd.

"Not much here, kid. Are you staying guard?" Asked Stanley. "'Cus I don't think anyone is going to steal the car."

"It's extremely possibly that our suspect is in the crowd. I was just going to watch for any suspicious activity."

"Good luck with that." Amelia tittered, as the crowd bloomed.

"Where's detective Cooper?" Hotch frowned, as the CSI team joined them at the sight.

"He's _'watching for suspicious activity'."_ Laughed Amelia.

Derek gave his boss a worried look, wishing Reid had never come.

"So, tell me what we have." Amelia said putting her hands on her hips.

Reid scanned the crowd quickly, looking for the face he had never wanted to see again. His eyes passed several suspicious looking people, but none were that of Jack Callen.

He decided to walk around the police tape, intergrating into the crowd. He'd been around once, so he went around again, his eyes flicking back and forth, like he'd seen his mothers do when she was having one of her episodes.

On the third time around, a new face appeared in the wave of people.

Reid knew that face. That face had taken everything from him: His name, his home, his work and his family

For the first time in his entire life, Reid saw red.

"CSI, don't move!" He growled gruffly, whipping his gun out and making several civilians jump. Callen froze and turned his head toward 'James Cooper', he smiled nastily and began running, ramming people into walls to get by.

Reid took off after him, he heard several shouts behind him, but his focus was on the man ahead of him.

"STOP!" He yelled, swerving around bystanders.

"Cooper, what are you doing?" Crackled a voice from the walkie talkie on his belt. He thrust it up to his lips.

"I got him! I've got Callen!" He shouted back.

Callen ran into the road, a taxi almost moed him down, car horns showered him. Reid followed across the road, several cars stopped abruptly, a car stopped right in front of him and he slid across the bonnet, beeping ensued.

Callen ricochet off an elderly couple, sending them sprawling. He zoomed left down an alleyway, Reid skidded across the concrete and followed.

Callen slowed down and turned, a heavy gun clutched in his arms. He fired and Reid threw himself to the ground. Callen emptied a sleeve, he hesitated fumbling with the bullets. Reid took this hesitation to his advantage and barrelled towards him. He smacked into him, falling down in a tangle of limbs. Reid smashed a wild fist into Callen's nose, smiling when he heard a satisfying crunch. Callen sent a knee into Reid's groin, knocking the air out of him.

Callen pulled himself back up and Reid wasn't quick enough. A foot connected with Reid's ribs and he was forced back. Reid tried to catch himself, but he felt only air beneath and he was falling. His shoulder connected with a hard concrete step, his body tumbleing down the rest of them, small gasps escaping him.

He came to a stop at the door at the bottom of the staircase, already he heard footsteps running away.

He got to his feet quickly and painfully and pulled himself up the steps. He peeked over the top step, grimacing at the pain burning through his body. Callen was making a dash around the corner.

Reid pulled his gun out and shot.

The ringing in his ears exploded, completely muffling the sound around him. He ignored it, watching Callen fall to his knees holding his calf in agony. Reid watched his lips part, in what he assumed was a blood curdling scream, but his ears were keeping the sound at bay. Reid hopped out from the staircase, and tried to run towards the injured man. His body rebelled against movement, and he could feel himself melting into the wall.

His ears suddenly popped, like they often did on the jet, and he could hear the hustle of the city again. Callen seethed in pain, trying desperately to get to his feet.

"Darrell, get here no...w, shot..." he gurgled into his walkie talkie. Reid hobbled over.

He had him he'd found him. Callen was cowering over himself, Reid aimed his gun shakily at the mans head.

"Cooper, where are you?" Yelled Mara's voice from his own walkie talkie.

"I've got him." Reid whispered, holding his finger on the reply button, so they could hear Callen.

Callen lifted his head and smiled.

"Sorry, kid. Not today." he grinned. Reid frowned, looking up too late, as a bat cracked across his cheek. He dropped his walkie talkie.

Stars burst across Reid's vision and he collapsed to the ground, fighting for consciousness.

"Coop?! Coop!" Screamed voices from the walkie talkie.


	6. Game Changer

( **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)**

 **Just realised, I wrote Mara instead of Amelia in the last few lines of Chapter 5, sorry about that.**

 **Sorry smaller chapter, I will hopefully have another for you tonight, but that's depending on whether the next chapter is the finale or not!**

 **I'm really enjoying writing this, but it's coming to a close, so buckle your seat belts for the finale!**

A commotion in the crowd drew in the teams attention. A hooded figure was running across the street and a young man with messy blonde hair and a poised gun was chasing after him.

"Cooper?" Harper thought allowed, puzzled. The detective jumped through the crowd, yelling at the figure to stop.

"What the hell is he doing?" Questioned Stanley, grabbing the radio from his belt.

"Cooper, what are you doing?" He blared. An answer was almost immediate.

"I've got him! I've got Callen." Came a panting and determined Cooper. The detective promptly ran out into traffic, sliding smoothly over a car bonnet that got in his way.

"What the devil?" Professed the lieutenant, jogging towards his detective. The BAU had already began running to the detective's aid.

"Where'd he go?" Breathed Morgan, distress cracking his voice. An elderly couple were pulling themselves pitifully off the floor, the older woman crying at their recent assault.

Harper pulled out his walkie talkie aggressively.

"Where are you, James?" He yelled into the radio. No reply came. They waited on the street corner for some kind of sign, spreading out a little, but not enough to endanger themselves.

After a minute several gunshots rang through the air.

The team exchanged terrified glances.

"D'you hear where that came from?" Whispered Emily.

"Somewhere over there, Prentiss. Come on." Morgan insisted, sneaking down an alleyway.

There was no-one there and it ended dead, with an old brick wall cornering them. Another gunshot blasted from somewhere close by.

"Cooper, where are you!?" Radioed Amelia. They all gathered, dreading the static they were sure would follow. They were pleasantly surprised when James Cooper's warm voice greeted them.

"I've got him." He said triumphantly. Amelia went to answer, but Cooper continued to radio on his end.

A cruel, cold voice, contrasting that of the detective's, curdled from the walkie talkie.

"Sorry, Kid, not today." It garbled.

A loud, sickening crack echoed from the radio, before returning to static.

"Cooper? Coop!" Amelia yelled, the others looked nauseatingly worried.

"Damn it, Cooper, where are you!?" growled Harper into his radio.

Several cops had joined them, when they were back on the street and Harper turned viciously to them.

"Check the allyways. My detectives down one of 'em." He ordered with a sudden unchallengeable authority, not caring about the suspect.

The officers nodded and dispersed.

"You don't think..." Stanley started, speaking soothingly to his boss.

"No." He grunted, without hesitation. He huffed, stroking the back of his head.

"Where'd he go?" He mumbled, more to himself.

"'m right here, b..boss." A quiet voice spoke from behind them.

Reid had pulled himself up a little too late, Callen and his men had vanished.

He heard shouts coming from neighbouring allys and streets. He shuffled back out of the one he was caught in, turning to his right he saw his old team and his new team fidgeting nervously.

Reid hobbled over to them painfully, all too aware of the blood dripping from his cheek into his waiting arms palm and the deep bruises, settling back over the left half of his face.

Harper had his back on Reid, and he caught their conversation, even with the buzzing in his ears, which had grown louder and more inconsolable.

"Where'd he go?" He heard his new and rather confused boss say.

"'m right here, b...boss." Reid said dully, his voice betraying his pain.

Harper turned suddenly to see his detective standing, or at least swaying, there in front of him.

"Oh God, Kid." Morgan whispered, talking in Reid's state.

The kids left cheek had split wide open, blood pooling from it and into his patient hand. Around the gash the skin was a mean shade of red, purple beginning to dance vainly into the red. His bare arms portrayed blue bruises: two on his left wrist, one on his right forearm and a large one on his upper right arm, that seemed to bloom up past the shirt sleeve. They couldn't see his legs, but from the way he was limping and standing incredibly uncomfortably, he'd clearly bruised them as well.

"What happened?" Harper asked, skidding over to the boy, placing a gentle hand on his back and guiding him over.

Reid faltered on the short walk, gripping Hotch's arm tight, who had come over to offer support.

"I was in pursuit..." he was cut off immediately by demanding questions. Hotch held up a finger and silenced them all.

Reid wavered a bit more, black spots perforating his vision and his stomach flipping with nausea.

"You need to sit down." Stanley suggested kindly.

They managed to get Reid to a bench before he collapsed. He sighed upon sitting, wincing from the action, he was quite sure his backside was also bruised.

"Continue." Hotch said expectantly.

Reid swallowed thickly, ignoring the growing pain over his entire body.

"I...uh...we got into the alley a..and Callen emptied a sleeve on m...me. I tackled him, and we f...fought for several seconds. He managed to r...recover quicker than me. He k...kicked me down a staircase." He hastened a reassuring look at the team. "I'm fine though, just need some I..ice." Emily smiled and shook her head at his stubbornness.

"I got out of there and landed a s..shot in his calf. W..when I went to cuff him, his friend came around the c..corner and nailed me with a bat." He groaned, montioning to his still bleeding cheek.

"Shit man!" Amelia cried, cracking a smile.

"Sounds super badass." She admitted. She'd clearly spent too much time with her sister and Reid laughed, but coughed painfully when the action burnt his lungs.

"You should probably get to a hospital." Stanley said, beguinning to dial an ambulance.

"No, it's okay. I'm fine." We should get back to the precinct." Reid pleaded.

Hotch rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But as soon as we figure this out you're going to get checked out." Harper told him, to which Reid stuck his thumb up.

 **Callen**

Darrell helped pull Callen into the van, and it sped off out of the city.

"You should've fucking shot that scum!" Snarled Callen, holding his bloody calf.

"The place was crawling with cops." Darrell defended.

"Do you think I give a shit. He shot me!" He shouted in exasperation. Darrell didn't reply this time.

"You know what. We don't need him anymore. Let's just kill him." Darrell's eyes went large.

"I...I thought we were going to use him a..as a kind of leverage." Darrell stuttered.

"They haven't even noticed he's missing. Besides I have a new plan." Callen revealed slyly.

He let out a shuddering breath, closing his eyes against the searing pain in his leg. Then he burst into a cruel laugh.

"If only the good doctor was still alive to see this. Maybe he'd understand what I went through."

 **Precinct**

The team re-entered the office, Morgan had a strong arm wrapped around Reid, who was still staggering with pain.

Rossi turned his head and frowned on seeing his young friend black and blue.

Mara and JJ sprung from their chairs.

"What happened!? Are you okay?" JJ burst out, forgetting that she wasn't talking to 'Spencer Reid'. Morgan sent her a warning look. Alex looked up quickly from her paperwork, her mouth dropping on seeing Reid in such a state. Images of their kidnap and torture swirled through her mind. She cringed at the memory of Callen's knuckles against Reid's face. She had to force herself to remain seated, knowing she would blow Reid's cover if she got up.

Mara sent JJ a confused ogle, then focused on her friend.

"What did you do? Fall down the stairs?" She laughed, rubbing a finger across his bruised face.

"Yes, actually." Reid grimaced, pulling himself out of Derek's grasp.

"You're joking?" Rossi guffawed. Reid hobbled over to his desk, which sat next to Amelia's, and he slumped down uncomfortably, shifting around to try and avoid the bruises that plastered his body.

"Nope." He hissed. Mara darted from the room with sudden enthusiasm. Reid touched his cheek, which was still wet and sticky with blood.

"So, how did you manage that?" Jibbed Conner.

"Our unsub was at the crime scene. Detective Cooper pursued him, managing to shoot him after their uh... scuffle." Hotch answered, hinting to Reid's bruises.

"Yea, you think I look a mess, you should see the other guy." Reid joked feebly, stirring laughs from his two teams.

Mara returned with several ice packs, releasing them over his desk.

"You should really go to the hospital. That cut needs stitches." She fussed. Reid was about to argue when Garcia walked in.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" Penelope bleated, rushing over to Reid and gently cupping his cheek in her hand so she could examine his face.

"I'm fine, honestly." He moaned, shifting in his seat once more, so the arm wasn't digging into his bruised ribs. He held an ice pack on his ribs to ease the burn and another on his left knee.

"Right, now you've proved your stubbornness, will you please go to the hospital?" Begged JJ.

Reid kissed his teeth, taking in the looks of the people around him, realising he had no choice and that it would be futile to argue.

"Sure. But you're coming too." He added slyly, making her grin.

As they walked out of the doors, Cooper clearly struggling with the action, Mara shared a wink with Stanley. Their little Cooper had certainly had a good impression on the BAU.

( _1 hour later)_

Hotch got off the phone with guilt and anguish etched into the lines of his face.

"Bad news." He announced.

The team all watched Hotch with both fear and intrigue.

"There's another victim. They have reason to believe this victim was kidnapped, therefore he is not an opportunity kill. In fact it's rather a personal kill." He informed them gloomily. He then turned to his own team, his eyebrows arching with sympathy.

"Hotch?" Alex asked anxiously.

"It's William Reid."

( _2 hours later)_

JJ walked back into the precinct, chatting happily to Reid. She'd missed him so much, and she was trying her upmost in pretending he was Detective James Cooper.

The left side of Reid's face had blossomed into a blue and purple gradient, his eye was now involved in the bruise, with purple surrounding it. His cheek held several stitches pulling it together neatly. A small fabric brace was wrapped around his wrist and he still limped painfully.

They arrived to solemn faces, JJ halted.

"We couldn't reach your cell." Said Garcia quietly.

"Oh God, sorry, I've had it turned o... what's happened?" Her voice filled with panic. Hotch glanced at Reid who appeared oblivious and he began to hobble to his desk.

"There's been another victim." Hotch murmured, withholding the vital information she needed to know, but which he didn't want Reid to hear.

Luckily, the arrogant and 'oh-so-helpful' Conner Jacobs helped him out with that part.

"His name was William Reid. You know the one." He interjected indignantly.

Reid froze midway to his desk, gazing up in horror at his team.

His new team caught his reaction and they frowned in confusion at him. Reid saw the image of his father pinned on the board in the corner of the room.

"No." Whispered Reid.

"Did you know him, James?" Asked Matthew knowingly.

"No, h..he...he can't be!" He howled, like a dog caught in a bear trap.

Reid's knees buckled and he slid down the wall , pulling his knees to his chest and burying his head in them, disguising his tears for a man he'd loved, but who'd never loved him back. His breath hitched.

Morgan and JJ were at his side in a second.

Morgan tried to pull him up.

JJ pushed Reid's hair from his face.

"Spence? I'm sorry, we had no idea he would..." she stuttered, not knowing how to explain.

Mara had been walking over when she paused.

"' _Spence?'"_ She mumbled, looking over to her team for some kind of answer, but they too, were baffled.

JJ smacked her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening at what she had said. Reid peered up at her, his eyes red and small tears forming and falling from them.

Again, Morgan tried to pull Reid from the floor, but he flinched away from Morgan's touch.

"NO! Get off me Morgan." He yelled, he sucked in a shuddering breath trying to compose himself. Ignoring the frowns of concern and puzzlement from his new team, he locked eyes with Hotch.

"D..did he know I was... I."

Hotch nodded his head agonisingly, Reid let out an anguished sob. His father died believing him to be dead. He died at the hands of the man who was supposed to have killed Reid. It was his fault. Callen wanted revenge on him; it was his fault. These thoughts bore into Reid's mind.

In the background, he heard his new boss questioning them.

"Know what? What's happening here? Cooper?"

"Why'd she call you that?" He heard Amelia ask.

The ruse was up. Reid could no longer hide the truth from his new team.

"He..he was my dad." Reid's voice cracked, the reality of the situation crashing down on him.

Harper gazed at him with an engraved frown. "But...then that makes you..." he fumbled over his words, piecing together the truth.

"Yes. That makes me Dr Spencer Reid."


	7. Shell shock

( **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)**

 **This chapter is going to be shorter, only because I've already posted one this morning, and I couldn't put it in the finale as it would be too long, (for my taste anyway.)**

 **The last chapter will be up sometime tomorrow, I'm gonna miss this story.**

The CSI team stood stock still, silence enveloping them. The man they knew as James Cooper, looked away sadly, guilt glinting off his tears.

"I'm sorry." Came his barely audible voice, choking on emotion.

"You know _them?"_ Conner snapped angrily.

"Y..you said he was dead." Whispered Mara, her emotions were conflicted and she didn't know how to react.

"Maybe we should talk somewhere more private." Hotch said, his voice low and his frown deep.

Morgan grabbed Reid under his armpits and heaved him to his feet. He didn't resist this time, too weak with grief to care.

Stanley gave him an odd look, but Morgan pulled Reid into a warm embrace, shielding him from the suspicious looks.

"Why?" Growled Conner.

Hotch didn't answer instead motioning for his team to join him in the conference room, Morgan helped Reid into the room, leaving the CSI standing around in idle shock.

It took several minutes for them to move. When they joined the BAU in the conference room and the door was closed, a claustrophobic tension fell down upon them.

Reid had his back to them all, his arms crossed tightly across his chest and his eyes were watching the wall intently. The ringing in his ears bubbled up in volume and a headache split across his skull. The voices around him were muffled.

"Is _he_ going to explain?" Conner snarled.

Hotch glanced at Reid, who was visibly trembling.

"Well!?" Shouted Conner expectantly. Rossi confronted the man, causing him to shrink away.

"Maybe, if you stopped running that mouth of yours he would explain." Growled the Italian, with a calm that sent shivers down Conner's back.

Reid's head bombarded him with question after question, he was trying to answered each one logically. Why is your father here? Why would Callen take him? Is this a message? Is he... a friendly palm on Reid's shoulder pulled him out of his head.

"Spencer?" Hotch murmured quietly. Reid spun around so suddenly, that Hotch himself, was taken aback.

"My mom? She's safe isn't she?" A horrible thought crept over him. What if Callen was targeting his biological family? Reid wouldn't let any of his family get hurt by that man, including his team. He'd already made that promise to himself and broken it twice, when JJ was shot he vowed once more, that no-one would get hurt because of him. Now his own father was dead. He could not allow this to go on.

"She's fine. She's still in vegas last I heard." Garcia reassured, giving him a weak smile. Reid released his breath, which he hadn't realised he'd been holding. He peered up at the ceiling, feeling a wetness cling to his eyes. Once he was sure the tears had dispersed, he came back to reality and looked back at Hotch.

"Why was he here, Hotch?" He said, surprisingly passive and calm.

"Callen kidna..." Hotch started, but Reid intercepted in a woeful voice.

"Hotch, please. It was because of me wasn't it?" Reid's brain had already figured it out. Callen was targeting the team, if his father had been with them, therefore, he too was a target.

Hotch opened his mouth again, but closed it, knowing better. He nodded solemnly.

"Then it's my f...fault." Reid's voice broke and he released a half sob, which he extinguished quicklyby turning his back and covering his mouth.

"Don't say that!" Morgan yelled. "He did this. All of it. Don't you dare blame yourself. Don't ever do that." He ordered with frustration. Reid kept his back turned.

"Can we please back up a bit? Cooper isn't actually Cooper?" Mara asked, still trying to wrap her brains around it.

Hotch was watching Reid, his face held a look of guilt and sympathy.

Alex, seeing that her team were focused on Reid, decided to explain the situation.

"Reid never actually died, as you can see. A week after the kidnapping, we were about to get back to normal, Reid, or Cooper as you know him, had just left the hospital. Callen had shot Reid in the head before escaping and going into hiding; he believed that Spencer was dead. So when Reid got back home he too had to go into hiding to keep Callen's illusion going. We knew if he didn't go into witness protection Callen would go after him and us again. That worked in that he stopped perusing Reid, but we became his next targets." She sighed, pursing her lips together.

Reid turned again, having sufficiently composed himself.

"I'm sorry I lied to you. I would never of deceived you if I had a choice." He mumbled. Mara shook her head at him. She tiptoed up to him and pulled him down into her arms. She stood back, taking him in.

"Spencer" She let it roll on her tongue, tasting how it sounded as it reverberated. "I admit now, that it does suit you better." Reid released a small laugh from his closed lips.

"What else haven't you told us?" Harper asked, a smile drawing over his own lips.

"I have 3 PhD's instead of two." Reid shrugged.

"Of course" sighed Stanley, chuckling.

"The real question is, what the hell do we do now?" Conner added genuinely, his voice free of sarcasm and arrogance. Reid was pulled back deep into his thoughts.

"I'm going to kill him." Reid declared, taking steps towards the door, a sudden determination driving him forward.

"No. Reid, there's still a chance he thinks you're dead, you can't risk anything else." Hotch intoned.

"No-one else will die because of me, Hotch." He responded weakly.

"And they won't, I promise."

 **Callen**

"Did you dump the body?" Callen inquired examining his fingernails.

"Yea, couple hours ago, so they should of found him by now." Confirmed Darrell.

"Goooood." Callen hissed, a serpent like smile blossoming over his lips. He whistled over at the short man wearing a bloodied shoulder white coat, who shivered in fear when Callen called his name, as if he were a dog being called over.

"If you numb my leg up tomorrow. I won't be able to feel it, right?" He motioned to the bandaged calf, where a bullet had gone straight through.

"Yes, but it may not be so wise as to walk on it so soon, though you won't feel any pain, you could cause extensive damage."

"Don't challenge my plan. You are dismissed." He made a shooing movement and the little man hurried away.

Callen smiled menacingly at his long time partner; Darrell.

"This is for James." Toasted Darrell, remembering the Conrad they'd lost to prison.

"And Phillip." Lamented Callen, searching for the few memories he had of his half brother.

"You know the plan?" He reiterated. Darrell nodded.

"Good. There will be no BAU by this time tomorrow." He sighed happily.


	8. Hang in there Baby

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)**

 **This is the final chapter, thank for reading and for your support, I hope you enjoyed this story. There are two endings to this story, I chose this because... well you'll see, but I will make the other one available if that's what any of you'd like. Just comment if you _would_ like to see it, but I'll be uploading it anyway ;) **

The team worked through the night. Coffee was dished out every hour to keep them awake. By 12.43pm a loud bang sounded, as Alex's head smacked down on the table; asleep. Both teams laughed, except Hotch and Reid, Hotch being too focused on the severity of the case and Reid's guilt still clinging to him like a bad smell.

Alex didn't wake up from the impact, sleeping through a few hours of work and she almost slept through the arrival of their unsub. Lucky for her, she was gently nudged awake by Garcia's trembling hand.

She woke to a terrifying scene.

Callen was stood in the doorway, a gun in his hand and the receptionist twisted into a headlock, the gun pressed to her dark curls.

"..to the roof." Callen had been saying, but Alex, still incoherent from sleep, missed most of it.

Her team had their arms raised along with the CSI team.

"Put that gun down. Step away from her, she has done nothing." Harper said calmly.

"I will do what you want, once you give me what _I_ want." He growled, pushing the barrel harder into the receptionists skull, causing her to whimper softly.

Reid had been in a seperate room at the time when he heard warning shots. He'd darted back in and crawled behind a desk. JJ was cowering under the opposite desk, and she exchanged a petrified look with him, her eyes dampened with tears. Amelia was with her, she had a determined glower set on the scene playing out over the desks.

Reid peeked around the desk. Callen was stood by the doors with Tara held hostage. 2 other men were with him, he recognised the one as Darrell, who had helped Callen kidnap and torture him and his team. The other was a rounded man, with a ratty moustache and dirty beard to match. They too, had hostages, their knives dangerously close to their victims necks. Darrell had even drawn some blood.

JJ motioned him to look at her. When he saw her actions, she mouthed something at him, her eyes emblazoned with desperation. "Stay down". Reid nodded at her to ease her worry, but he wasn't planning on staying hidden. It was his turn to seek revenge.

"We can't do that. You plan on killing these people. We can make some sort of deal, to lower your sentence bu..." Callen laughed coldly, interrupting Harpers negotiations.

"You're in no position to make such deals, lieutenant. As you can see, it is I, who has the upper hand." A roar of laughter surged through his and Tara sobbed in terror.

"BAU." He addressed the team now. "If you wish to save this woman's life hand yourselves over to me. Let's finish this already." He said with mock sweetness.

"I will hand myself in to you, if you promise to release that woman and leave my team out is this. You can have me, but I will not give you my team." Hotch persisted.

"That's not the deal. If you don't all come with me, then I will kill everyone in this room. Starting with you." He hissed slyly into the quaking receptionist's ear.

Reid stood up on hearing this. So sudden was his movement, that most of the team had jumped.

"No!" He objected, forcing Callen to revert his attention on Reid. Callen's face contorted into a malevolent grin.

"You!?" He chuckled to himself. "You're the sonovabitch who shot me!" He yelled, motioning to his men to have a good look.

"Bit scrawny aren't you? No wonder you fell down those stairs, a gust of wind could've pushed you down them." Callen's men laughed at his remarks in low, gruff voices.

"Oh, I have the right mind to shoot you too. Actually, you can come with them to the roof, killing..." he counted the agents. "... 8 birds with one stone."

"You can't have them." Reid retorted.

"Excuse me! Did I not just make myself quite clear." He shifted the gun, his finger poised on the trigger.

"No, stop! You don't need them." Reid said, trying to remain calm.

"Oh and whys that then." Callen was beguinning to lose his patience. They were trying to ruin his plan.

"Because you never completed your original plan." His team were eyeing him with great fear.

"Don't" Hotch reprimanded.

"I'm afraid you lost me. Now come along, time is wearing thin." Callen was turning his attention back on the BAU, when Reid snagged off his glasses flinging them to the floor, he whipped out his contacts in a swift action and flicked his hair from his eyes, he couldn't do anything about the colour, but even so, he was no longer Detective James Cooper. He was Dr Spencer Reid again.

"What the hell are you doi..."

"Remember me!?" Reid shrilled, fury running through his veins. A hate fire for Callen lit inside him.

" _You!"_ Callen hissed, narrowing his eyes.

"You're supposed to be dead!" He snarled.

"And here I am, spoiling your plans."

"How?... I shot you!" He yelled.

"Your aim will never be like your brothers." Reid smiled and tapped the scar across his skin.

Callen looked almost like a cartoon character, his face burnt red and it looked as if steam would begin billowing from his ears.

"Don't..."

"What? Talk about your brother? You barely knew him! Is that why you killed my father? Because I barely knew him? This is just between you and me. Don't keep them involved." Reid instructed, pointing at his team.

"You let them go and you can have me." Reid said holding his hands up in defeat. Callen eyed him deliciously, as if someone had offered him a cake.

"Get over here, now! Slowly! Don't try anything either, or I'll blow this fat bitch's brains all over the floor."

Reid nodded his consent and began making his way over. He didn't look at his team as he left them, for what may be the last time. They sent him pleading looks, wanting desperately for him to stay, but truthfully they saw no way out of this situation.

"Reid!" Gasped JJ. He ignored her call, not turning back to look at her. A sob burst from behind her lips and she collapsed to the floor in helplessness.

Reid stopped in front of Callen, waiting expectantly. Callen took his gun away from Tara's head and shoved her away. She slumped onto the floor and scurried away from them, like a rat down a drainpipe.

Callen stepped forward and smacked his gun down into Reid's skull. Reid hunched double, his fingers pressed against his temples as a headache drummed in against them and the ringing burst into his hearing, alongside the yells of his team.

"I see you haven't gotten over that explosion just yet." Laughed Callen, mechanically.

Reid straightened up and found himself staring into the barrel of a gun.

"Darrell, Mortez, you stay here. Don't let them move until I'm back. _You..."_ Callen refocused on Reid. "We're gonna finish this."

 **Roof**

Reid fell to the ground, after Callen threw him through the door. The sun was beating down and Reid had to squint to see, having been inside since his trip to the hospital with JJ the previous day.

"Get up!" Reid scrambled to his feet, Callen stood over him.

Reid turned to face Callen and he punched the agent in his ribs. Reid's breath was knocked from him, and it took all his strength to stay on his feet.

"You think you can beat me?" He spat, kicking the defenceless agent.

"Get up!" He yelled again. Reid stood up shakily, waiting for the pain.

Callen watched him with disgust. He lifted the gun.

"Walk." Reid gave Callen a fleeting glance, before turning his back on the armed assailant. Reid walked slowly to the edge of the building, his knees still ached from his fall the day before and they creaked in protest at the movement. He stopped at the buildings edge, 2 layers of scaffolding hung loosely to the side of the 26 floor building.

"Why are you stopping?" Callen's voice buzzed through his skull with a nasty purr.

"What are you expecting me to do?" Reid replied, defiantly. He felt the butt of the gun pinch the small of his back and Callen's dry lips pressed up behind his ear.

"Get up on that scaffolding." He hissed. Reid's heart beat raced. He looked down at the city below and swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat.

"I said.." he gave Reid a thump. "GET UP!" Reid tripped over the edge of the building landing heavily on the scaffolding bars. The bar he landed on shook tremendously and the position he landed in caused him to slip down off it. Reid felt the wind rush past him, and he felt his breath hitch in panic, his arms flailing to grasp the bar again.

Reid did manage to get hold of a pole, but this one was on the layer of scaffolding below, that meant that there was nothing underneath him to save him if he were to let go again. Reid was left hanging.

"Oh god.." he trembled. His feet swayed with the wind and he could see the cars driving down on the ground, like the size of the ones he'd seen Henry play with before.

Callen was balancing on the bar Reid was holding dearly.

"You're completely at my mercy." He smiled looking at his nails gingerly.

"Fuck you." Reid grunted.

"Your father would be disappointed in what you've become, Spencer. I do hope you didn't use that language around him. Oh no, wait, he never did see you, couldn't stand you, could he.?" Reid huffed in white rage, pulling himself up. He pulled his chest up, allowing his arms to rest, as soon as he'd done this, Callen's calloused hands were gently pushing him back down.

Reid whimpered with panic.

"Don't worry, we're almost done. As soon as you let go, this is over." Callen drew himself back up. A sharp ping bounced off the scaffolding. Callen ducked suddenly and his feet lost their grip on the pole. Unlike Reid, he didn't manage to grab hold of the bar.

Instinct took hold of Reid as the man fell. He let one of his hands off the pole, and snatched up Callen's hand as it fell by him. Callen's weight suddenly jerked his whole body, and his hand was almost torn from the pole.

"HELP!" He screamed, feeling his fingers peel off the pole. Morgan's head popped over the side of the building. Reid assessed the situation quickly.

"No, Morgan wait." He said seeing the agent begin to climb down. Reid used every ounce of will power he had to re-grip his fingers, though his hold was still un-secure.

"Kid, I need to..."

"No, its unstable enough, I won't let you fall with us!" Reid begged, sending Morgan a sympathetic look.

"Let go of him, pretty boy, so I can pull you up" Morgan demanded, throwing Reid a frown.

Reid looked down at Callen, who's eyes were filled with terror. For the first time, Reid believed the man might actually have human emotions after all.

"You wouldn't drop me!" Callen cried, gazing down at the traffic below his feet.

"Wouldn't I? Reid asked fiercely. His arms burnt in strain and the sweat between his fingers and the bar, made his grip unstable.

"Hold on, kid!" Morgan yelled, panic seizing his voice.

"I...I'm trying." Reid huffed in reply.

"You have to let him go, Reid." Morgan shouted.

"NO! Don't let me go!" Callen yelled from below him, Reid felt fingernails sink deeper into his flesh.

"Reid, I can't lift you both, just let him go." Morgan begged, edging nearer on the unsteady bars.

"Morgan stop! It's too flimsy." Reid warned.

"I'll take my chances, kid. There will be less weight if you let him go. Think of all he's done." Morgan said.

"DONT LET GO!" Came a frantic scream beneath them.

Reid looked down and locked eyes with his enemy.

"You killed my father." He snarled.

"Y..you killed my brother." Callen retorted.

Reid felt his sweaty fingers slip slightly.

"You barely knew him! Admit it, you used his justified death as a means to become a killer yourself! I would bet anything that you were jealous of him."

Callen writhed under Reid's words, causing the duo to sway.

"SHUT UP!" He bellowed.

"You never cared about him, you just wanted to be like him, you had to be better than him. You used me and my family to fulfil your sick fantasies. Therein lies your mistake; you cannot hurt this family and get away with it." With that Reid turned his eyes back up to Morgan and released his grip on his tormentor.

He didn't feel Callen's weight leave him as he'd hoped he would, fingernails still grappled his hand.

"NO!" Callen screamed desperately keeping hold of the agents wrist which was still wrapped in a fabric support. His grip slipped from Reid's arm and he clawed for a hold on Reid's ankle. Reid yelped as he was pulled down slightly. He launched his other arm at the bar, trying to secure his hold. Callen clung to Reid's leg, holding it close to him, blubbering loudly to himself.

Reid clutched onto the warm bar, the weight of Callen forcing him down and his fingers to slip even more.

"MORGAN!" He screamed roughly, trying to offer his hand to the older agent, but not finding the courage to release it from the bar.

Morgan inched closer. He was no longer on the roof, with the safety of the building to protect him should he fall. He was now balancing on the thin bars extending out as part of the scaffolding. He cautiously made his way from the top level of scaffolding to the one Reid was hanging off. When his feet hit the bar, Reid was grasping onto, a jolt went through the three of them. Reid whimpered at the movement, Callen released a deranged scream.

"Reid, you gotta kick him off." Morgan said calmly, positioning himself to pull Reid up.

"I can't." Reid murmured through gritted teeth as his shoulders screamed in agony. Morgan grasped under Reid's arms and tried to pull. The attempt was useless, Morgan almost fell back off the bar himself, had he grabbed the flimsy bar above him to balance himself.

Reid's muscles trembled and he knew he couldn't hold on for much longer. He had no strength to kick off the dead weight holding onto the ankle.

This was how he would die. He tried not to think about the impact, knowing he'd be killed instantly. He closed his eyes, feeling his body beginning to give up on him.

"REID! Don't you dare! You hold on!" Morgan's voice barely made it past the ringing that had built back up inside Reid's ears.

He heard other voices now, the CSI team as well as his own team. Pleading with him to hold on.

"Come on, Reid. Just hold on." Cried JJ.

"Don't let go, Kid." Yelled Rossi.

Reid opened his eyes and could see most of them above him, tears welled up in his eyes. His fingers began to slide down the slick bar.

Images began to flash in front of his eyes.

"D'y _ou know she's the only person in the whole world who calls me Spence?" He smiled at Gidion before going to retrieve his slice of birthday ..._

 _"I don't want it?" He begged, his voice breaking with..._

 _"He's so lifelike." Emily gasped sarcastically, after poking him with her finger and..._

 _"Will and I were talking and... we want you to be Henry's Godfather." Reid stood back speechless, a warmth of joy, sent feelings of..._

 _"I fleel thin" Reid said through a barrier of bared teeth. He knew what he said was wrong, so he tried again. "I fleel thin, I do." He groaned in frustration as he felt the anthrax burn into his lungs. His hair stuck to his face from..._

 _"What did you join a boyband?" Hotch asked, frowning at Reid's new haircut. Reid opened his mouth to answer, "No" he pouted, his team laughed sedately around the table, before..._

 _"Thomas Merton" she whispered. Reid's eyes widened. "Who's Thomas Merton?" Diane spat. "He knows, he knows." Maeve murmured. "Who's Thomas Merton? Who is he!?" Cried Diane, her voice cracking. "He's the one thing you can never take from us." Diane looked to the ground. "No" she said through gritted teeth, then she held the gun to her head and..._

 _"Blow it up." Reid told Derek. Derek laughed, "nu-uh" he said. Reid looked back at his file, smiling smugly. "Pssst" he looked to his right and Hotch offered him a fist bump, a similar smile etched into his face._

A gun shot sent his memories floating back into the depth of his mind.

A searing pain and sudden weightlessness caused his hands to slip fully from the bar. However, he didn't feel the sensation of falling. He opened his eyes and saw Morgan, with his handd locked around Reid's forearms. He was lay across the scaffolding on his front, so he was more stable. He heaved a trembling Reid towards him.

"Hey, gonna need a little help." Morgan huffed. Harper was next to him before Hotch could even lower his smoking gun. Reid looked down, Callen was no where to be seen. Harper lent forward dangerously and wrapped his finger into Reid's belt loop, lugging the agent back onto the scaffolding.

Reid released a shuddering breath, and began shivering more violently. Morgan held onto him as they carefully made their way back onto the building.

Reid's arms burned like hell, and he stood in front of his team, letting them hang in front of him, like anchors pulling him to the safety of the ground.

Hotch holstered his gun and gathered his young agent into his arms. Everyone was taken aback by Hotch's rare display of affection.

"Don't you ever do that again. That's an order." Hotch grumbled happily. Reid pulled away, looking at him seriously.

"Callen?"

Hotch motioned to his gun.

"I guess I was aiming for you're leg." Hotch smiled, Reid remembered when he'd admitted that to Hotch after telling him he kicked like a 9 year old girl. Reid grinned.

"And you got me!" Reid laughed, lifting his blue decks which were soaked red from the bullet grazing him ankle.

"Sorry about that." Hotch apologised, he placed his hand over Reid's shoulder, Morgan on his other side and they helped him to the door and back on solid ground.

 **I'm going to miss this story, thanks so much for reading! This isn't it from me though, I have 2 milder stories planned which will be mainly romances.**

 **Is it evil of me to end it there? I'm pretty sure it is, so I may wrap it up with a short epilogue. (Also there's some unexplained things which may annoy some people, so I'll update tomorrow) But for now, farewell Jack Callen, you sadistic bastard!**


	9. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own criminal minds, if I did there would be a Christmas special every year ;) 

**This is only short, sorry it took so long, I was having a break. Alternative ending is coming soon.**

Reid lay asleep in a chair on the jet. The bruised half of his face rested gently against the window. The team were gathered close around him, worried he'd leave them again, through their rational minds knew he wouldn't. Emily sat beside him, also asleep, her hand laid gently on his knee.

Hotch and Morgan sat opposite him. Garcia, JJ and Alex sat squashed up on the couch and Rossi had pulled up the large recliner that had usually inhabited the corner of the jet. Reid hadn't noticed how the team practically fought to sit by him on the jet. After an hour they'd finally stopped staring at Reid's sleeping form, but every few minutes their eyes would wander back to him.

Morgan gazed at Spencer, appreciating the brother he'd almost lost. Morgan didn't know whether he prefered the hair. Of course the colour and style suited Reid as it always seemed to in the past, but Morgan had a nagging desire to see the kid with his natural brown curls. His hair was swept slightly from his head, and Morgan could just make out the scar that was inscribed along Reid's skull. A pang of guilt gripped Morgan's gut, his eyes skirting around the deep, stitched up gash across Reid's cheek, and the painful bruises that resided around it.

Reid stirred and shifted his body uncomfortably, wincing in pain and curling up closer to Emily's soft touch. Emily opened her eyes slightly and shimmied towards Reid's warmth. Their heads were almost touching now and Rossi smirked at the adorable scene unfolding in front of him.

Garcia and JJ were also sleeping soundly, most likely for the first time in weeks.

Reid's unconscious mind drifted off to that afternoon; saying goodbye to his new team.

 _"So you're going?" Mara asked quietly, interlacing her fingers sadly._

 _Reid chewed the inside of his cheek._

 _"I..I..it's my home.. i"_

 _"No I understand. I... im just gonna miss you." She wiped the tears that began welling up in her eyes. Reid stepped forward and gathered his friend into his arms, pulling her into him just as a sob racked her usually happy body._

His mind warped slightly as another recent memory resurfaced.

Harper _extended his hand out to Agent Reid. He'd never been more wrong about a person in his life. The kid had exceeded every expectation he had and he was extremely disappointed to see the Agent leave their unit. James Cooper would of been an excellent Detective, But Micheal knew the circumstances and that the Kid had to go back home._

 _Reid slowly lifted his hand, but Harper pulled his arm instead and hugged the young man._

 _"You know where we will be, if you ever want to pop down and see us" said the lieutenant awkwardly._

 _"I will." Reid whispered hoarsely._

The memory dispersed once more and his head began swimming back to consciousness.

Emily's eyes cracked open, the team were all awake now, bar Reid who's head was resting on hers , his hair tickling her forehead.

She moved slightly and Reid groaned.

He pulled open his heavy eyelids and glanced around at his team, a safe feeling oozing over him. Penelope looked up at Emily and Spencer, who were pulling away from each other's warmth. She smiled at their cuteness.

"You better be re-dying your hair when we get home." Garcia insisted, eyeing his dirty blonde locks.

Reid sighed as he stretched his arms behind his head, his wrist yawning in pain. "Sure, Penelope, but I know that look in your eyes. You are not doing it!" The others laughed and Garcia pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

"That's what you think." Garcia murmured slyly.

"Urgh, I can't wait to get back to my lair. You guys can carry on traveling for cases, but I will never leave my lair again." Garcia confirmed, crossing her arms with indignation.

"I'm afraid you won't be going their just yet." Hotch said, a tiny smile curling around his lips.

"Yea?" Morgan raised his eyebrows.

"Yea, we're going home. I've organised a week off. We have no cases. Reid, you should move back into your apartment during that time."

Reid sent a confused look at his boss.

"I still own it?" He licked his lips.

"Rossi paid your rent while you were gone." Morgan informed him.

Reid's mouth gaped open and he stared at Rossi in awe.

"You really didn't need to, Rossi. I can pay you back, as soon as I sort my finances out."

Rossi lifted his hand and waved it limply at Reid.

"I have too much money as it is." Rossi concluded, smiling smugly.

"Thank you." Reid's face lit up in gratitude.

The conversation crawled on, Reid had begun to watch his fingers which were twiddling amongst themselves. He was thinking about the funeral that he'd have to organise for his father. Guilt brewed up inside him.

Voices in his head began calling out to him, all saying the same thing:

 _Your fault_

 _Your fault_

 _Your fault_

They morphed into the voices of his father and Callen. His fathers face flashed before his eyes.

" _Why didn't you tell me? I would still be alive if you had. Do you understand that? Come on genius, I thought you knew everything!"_ His father growled in his head.

Emily watched how Reid's face distorted with shame and grief. She grasped his hand tightly, squeezing it reassuringly.

"I know what you're thinking, Reid. We will help you. With everything." She smiled, kissing his hand.

 **"One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood." ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca**

 **Thank you all for reading, that is it (officially). The alternative ending will be posted later, its only short, and I don't like it very much, but it was very close to becoming the actual ending, I'm glad it didn't ;)**

 **Please Reid and Review**


	10. Alternative Ending

**So this is the alternative ending, I can't say much more because it's not a nice one.**

 **Here's an important warning, if you can't handle it I'd advise stopping here: CHARACTER DEATH**

 **By the way, I'mwatching Criminal Minds right now, 'Eliot's pond' directed by MGG himself!**

 **Okay.**

 **Can't delay anymore.**

 **I'm sorry.**

 **Here goes...**

Roof

Callen flung Reid threw the door where he collapsed on the roof.

"You piece of shit!" Cried Callen sending his foot into Spencer's stomach. Reid felt the breath extinguish from him and he sucked in a deep breath trying to get oxygen back into his system.

"You are worthless!" Another kick; an inability to breath.

"Stupid." Kick.

"FUCKING" kick.

"KID!" Kick. This one landed in Reid's face, a sickly snap resonated from his nose.

"P...please." Reid pleaded, but it came out as a pathetic gasp for air.

Callen grabbed Reid by his shirt, pulling him to his feet.

"You will pay for what you did!" Callen screamed, spit flying off into Reid's face. Callen pulled him closer to the buildings edge and the precarious scaffolding hanging there.

Spencer felt his leg jolt on the buildings border. Callen looked over the edge and smiled nastily. He panted excitedly.

"Little Spence is going to pay." He cackled.

But before Callen could fling the kid over the building, Reid grasped the mans shoulders, pulling Callen towards him. He whispered close in his ear. "I've already paid. It's your turn."

Callen tried to pull away from Reid as he threw the genius from him and over the 26 floor building.

Reid didn't let go of the older mans arm and as he felt nothing but air surround him, Callen realised he was in a similar situation.

Callen flailed him arms in sheer panic, managing to grab hold of a bar on the scaffolding. The kid jolted his body as he was still gripping his forearm desperately, slipping quickly. Callen's human instinct kicked in for the first time in several months and he held onto the skinny agent below him.

Callen swallowed thickly, accessing his situation. Disgusted by his natural instinct to hold on to the agent, he almost dropped him, but the clicking of a gun caught his attention.

"Don't even think about it." A stone cold voice snarled. Morgan had his gun trained between Callen's eyes.

Callen laughed suddenly, he looked down at a terrified Reid and laughed harder.

"You won't shoot me! Shoot me and he goes down as well. You can't seriously be that stupid." Chortled the psycho. Morgan growled in frustration, his gun didn't move.

Reid looked down between his feet, seeing the tiny cars drive by and the people, without a care in the world, looked like ants. Reid squeezed his eyes shut. He knew the probability that he'd be down there with them soon. But he wouldn't be walking around with them. He told himself over and over that he wouldn't feel anything, he would be gone instantly. He knew about these types of deaths. The highest height someone had survived a fall like this was 8 stories and even then the victim was disabled for the rest of his life. He clung to his lifeline, to the hands that had murdered his father.

"You're all at my mercy!" Callen cackled excitedly. The agents still didn't drop their guns, so with a frown, Callen allowed Reid to slip slightly through his fingers. Reid yelped with fear. Looking up at his team in terror. They instantly holstered their guns. Emily stretched out her hand, in the hopes to calm Callen.

"Please. Don't...don't drop him."

"Why? I have no reason." He said letting Spencer slip a little more. Reid chocked on a petrified sob.

 _This is it._ He thought to himself. He would've begged for his life if he had any hope left of survival. He was resigned to his fate. He wouldn't waste his breath.

"I..I love you guys." He murmured.

"Shut up, Reid. We will leave here together, I promise you that." Morgan cried desperately.

Callen interrupted to Spencer's dismay, he needed to say goodbye to his team.

"I. Have. No. Reason." He mulled over. He glanced up at the team and smiled sympathetically. His breathing picked up eagerly. He looked back at Spencer.

"It's time to end this, Spencer." Callen opened his hand wide and Spencer slipped from his only lifeline. A whimper sliced from his throat, and the air wrapped itself around him and he fell.

The team let out a collection of screams and gasps and ran to the edge of the building, hoping; praying that they weren't too late.

Time started moving slowly for Reid. The wind whipped cruelly around his body as he somersaulted through the air.

 _In a few seconds you will be dead._ His head told him.

 _You're alive and thinking right now, but in a matter of moments every organ in your body will shut down._ He thought he was ready for what the oncoming ground held for him, but he wasn't. He couldn't die, he didn't want to die. He screamed, but it was caught up with the movement around him.

Each floor flew past him.

17...

14...

10...

Reid saw the pavement rising up to greet him.

7...

 _I can't do this._

 _5..._

 _I don't want to die..._

 _3..._

 _"Morgan!"_ He cried.

2...

The team got to the edge of the building to see Reid fall out of their reach. Hotch put his hand over his mouth, as if he was about to be sick. Rossi chocked in shock. Emily and Mara broke down in sobs. Harper turned away, not wanting to see this. Morgan collapsed to his knees and a howl escaped from his lips. None of them noticed Callen pulling himself back onto the building, Harper shoved Callen to the ground and pressed a gun to his back.

Hotch watched his agent fall, a helpless nausea taking hold of him. He was sure he'd vomit. Everything was silent until a terrified scream from far below reached their pricked ears.

"Morgan!" The muffled cry reached them as a whisper. A smash resounded quietly from below and a car alarm began to sound.

 _"Maeve?" Reid shuffled over to the woman who had her back turned to him._

 _She turned and the most beautiful face he'd ever seen presented itself to him. He hadn't seen that face for a good few years and he'd only seen it once before._

 _"But, Maeve, you.. you're..."_

 _"Dead?" Her voice asked gently. She smiled and great tears fell from her eyes._

 _"You shouldn't be here Spencer. It's too soon." She wiped her eyes and neared him, a swell of excitement welled up inside him, desperate to hold her._

 _"Neither should you, I...I'm so sorry. I tried.. I really did.." he started, but warm arms wrapped around him. He was so overwhelmed. Her smell, her touch, all the things he'd never had a chance to experience._

 _"I was waiting for you." She said, unravelling from his hold. "I hoped it would be much later until I got to see you again."_

 _Reid took her hand in his, unable to stop smiling. Behind him voices flooded around him._

 _"Reid?"_

 _"Oh God, no. NO! Please, p..please no."_

 _"Spencer? Spence can you hear us?"_

 _"Pretty boy, wake up!"_

 _"Morgan, stop. STOP! god damn it, just stop, there's... there's nothing we can... he's gone."_

 _Maeve watched him look back with worried eyes._

 _"C'mon Spencer. They're safe now." She pulled him towards the warm light and away from the cold darkness._

 _"You're dad's here too." She giggled excitedly, as they walked away, hands grasped tightly together._

 _"He was looking for you, I had to tell him you hadn't died, and he got very confused."_

 _"I need to see him, t..to apologise." Reid murmured._

 _"There's plenty of time for that. He won't be happy to see you though." She turned and looked into his hazel eyes._

 _"I've missed you."_

 _"Thomas Merton." She whispered, planting a kiss on his cheek._

 _Reid turned back to the darkness behind him and the wailing cry of his team._

 _"Thomas Merton." He called back._

 **It's short because it's not something I liked writing, I don't like Spencer deaths, so don't expect them often from my Fics. I hope you enjoyed the story, it's my first one and the response I got was so encouraging soooooo PLEASE REID AND REVIEW**

 **Also I don't know if you can tell, but I have much more confidence in my writing now, in other words I'm less conscious about what I write and I don't care if I embarrass myself anymore :D**

 **I'm thinking of doing several one shots based on requests, so if you have something you'd like me to write (criminal minds of course) PM me and I'll start writing them!**

 **A HUGE thank you, love you guys! ️️️**


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